Courier
by eddrf
Summary: An exciting story detailing the lives of a Human and a Quarian as they travel through the galaxy. Will they survive ordinary life? Will they survive the reaper's purge? Takes place from ME2 to ME3 and onwards OC/OC No shep/Tali focus but they might make a cameo or two hence the character selection. Romance and fluff and battles and adventure ahoy.
1. Chapter 1

The tiny ship wove through empty space, a model-C utility tug from Volvo , at only 12 meters the craft barely fitted into hover truck regulations.

Even though it was designed as a light cargo shuttle and for general maintenance of bases and spacecraft, not for interplanetary traffic it managed quite well.

After the advent of advanced VI intelligences these small vessels had been rendered mostly obsolete and only a miniscule amount of bases and colonies still operated them, and if so generally just one or two in case the drones malfunctioned.

The C-model had a large cabin mounted at its front, including a pair of bunks, rudimentary bathroom facilities and a tiny kitchen that had a habit of belching black smoke(Another reason the C-model was less than successful)

Mounted to the rear of the cabin was a servo arm neatly folded up with a multitude of tools capable of being mounted onto it, this C-model like many others were only equipped with a versatile "claw"

Beyond the claw was a simple if heavily reinforced flatbed, it was a small as those mounted on the relatively tiny planetoid based hovertrucks often seen on colonies.

but the C-model had the capacity to accept containers and cargo pods up to twice it's size thanks to it's heavy magnetic clamps that docked the containers unlike the more common masseffect-field application.

Despite it's size the craft was rather nimble and easily traversed the various traffic lanes leading to the warehouse where the shipment _should_ be stored, then again the Colony on Watson wasn't exactly a reliable or stable colony.

After a devastating bombardment by Batarian radicals that had resulted in the complete destruction of the local spaceport the colony had been mostly abandoned, few if any inhabitants remained.

Fredrick didn't let the bleak atmosphere get to him though, he was smiling at what would have been a week long journey with his utility craft had turned into only days worth thanks to a kind ships captain Fredrick had known since a young age.

The captain had allowed him to travel with his tiny ship inside the vast hold of his freighter and had dropped him off before jumping out to some other relay.

As he descended down towards the colony Fredrick noticed a lack of..well anything. No air-cars and no shuttles, no civilian radio traffic or even TV-broadcasts.

The only thing he could pick up on was the constant chatter of FREY-mechs tasked witch cleaning up all the hazardous fuel that had leaked from the now charred and blasted crater that was once a proud space-port.

It was eerie, he hoped the shipment would be present soon, if he'd just taken one day's leave then the container would've been here, but nooo use Tirala they said, they have the closest depot they said.

It hadn't been long since the bombardment, only a week or so and that meant the drone-freighter carrying his cargo was already dispatched.

And thanks to anti-hacking protocols the drone wouldn't accept any command or route revision until it reached it's destination.

Fredrick sighed, now he'd have to wait for the freighter to arrive! and with an empty colony there wasn't much he _could_ do.

Stupid drone-freighters and their inability to revise routes while in flight, although the slavers were probably more irritated at those new crafts than Fredrick could ever hope to.

Of course looking on the bright side he did have a week of free time and there had to be something to do, even if that something was laying on the roof of his ship and reading some book, just relaxing.

Fredrick's mouth opened slightly as he saw the clouds clear, what had once been a prospering colony.

Was now a deserted wasteland, hundreds or even thousands of buildings, mostly prefabs lay abandoned some toppled due to the shock-wave that had emanated from the spaceport when it was wiped from the planet.

Small green spots were scattered around at regular intervals Fredrick suspected those were parks as he knew well enough how life without a little bit of flora could drive you crazy, and they were nice to look at too.

But now they were painful reminders on what had once been a colony filled with life.

A pair of angry red alerts suddenly sprung up on his screens "Urgent comm request" one informed while another "Groundside target lock detected" hinted at what would happen should he fail to respond to the former.

Fredrick pressed a few buttons on the side of his seat and a small icon sprung up on the main-screen that proudly declared that he was connected to whatever had urged him to respond.

He hesitated slightly, normally ground-control would hail him directly, not send an"urgent comms requests"

"Hello. This is Utility craft CADF-1138 Who's this?"

A tinny mechanical voice responded, each word followed by a short pause.

"this is Tilara ground-control CADF-1138,state your intentions."

Obviously this was what was left of ground-control, a handful of mechs tasked with keeping pirates at bay even when the colony was empty. Although that would soon be impossible due to the power plants that were shut off as is standard procedure when a colony is evacuated.

Fredrick hoped the batteries would last at least until he was done with that bloody container...

"My intentions are to dock at this colony, and wait for a shipment due in approximately a week."

He tried to sound as formal as possible.

"affirmative, dock at..."

The voice cut out suddenly Fredrick stayed silent for a few seconds, The mechs on his home colony, Horizon were prone to long pauses as their tiny VI processors struggled to cope with information.

The pauses were never this long however.

"hello?"

"Hello? Tilara ground-control do you read?

Nothing, at least the targeting locks were gone too so whatever had happened to ground control had spread across the entire colony.

Then he realized the powerplants, and their battery stacks would be close to the spaceport since that was the most protected area, and the spaceport was a crater...

As soon as the capacitors had ran out everything had shut down. No doubt even the mechs would shut down within a day or two without their recharging stations.

Fredrick shrugged, at least he was fortunate the colony was abandoned otherwise he would have to wait for hours to dock, now he could set his little ship down wherever he wanted.

Which was exactly what he planned to do.

The ship trembled slightly as he neared his destination, a large park pockmarked with debris and small craters from flying scrap but it was flat and could hopefully support the ship's landing skids.

With A few more adjustments, he approached the far side of the park, He passed over a toppled prefab and silently hoped it was empty when the explosion occurred,.

He intended to land close enough to the buildings in case of danger yet a few meters away from the road surrounding the park so he didn't look like an idiot who parked right in front of some poor saps house.

The grass waved and ducked under the thrusters exhaust, slowly but surely did the ship descend until it landed with a muffled *thud***** with all three landing skids becoming firmly embedded into the soil.

Fredrick felt the impact resonate within the ship, it bobbed down then up again on the suspension mounted beneath it's hull.

**Author note: this story is my first non oneshot so criticism is appreciated!( as always)**

**It'll be about 15 chapters long(EDIT: now we're talking about 50ish chapters long, maybe more, 15 was just an initial estimate, there will be plenty of Ril and Fredrick to come!), maybe more but that's as long as the current script is. And it will use Calinstel's version of quarians with some additions haphazardly taped on like a broken hood-ornament.**

**Next chapter will reveal the quarian for our human I hope you'll enjoy it and don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ril'vanni plodded down from the prefab's roof landing in the grass with a satisfying thud.

Her green visor concealed a frown, no food or anything that one either. the evacuation had been a week ago. Food was getting scarce. At first, missed meals were little more than a nuisance, but as they grew fewer and farther between, Ril wondered if she really would starve,

A worried sigh escaped her mouth.

Her suit was equipped with multitude of internal paste reservoirs, but two days ago she had depleted them.

while the paste wasn't much more than a tasteless gruel she found herself missing it, despite being disgusting the paste was filling and nourishing.

Her stomach loudly agreed, again.

She raised her head, inside the helmet her receptacles tilted slightly even as the acoustic-emulators provided omnidirectional hearing far better than her organic counterparts.

A loud woosh from a shuttle's thrusters could be heard, small and approaching.

Was it pirates? Scavengers? Or just criminals?

No it was just one ship, small by the sounds of it too, maybe a civilian looking for a family-member or friend.

Her hopes rose, maybe she could hitch a ride with whoever arrived, it couldn't go worse than the last attempt!

_Ash rained from the sky like snow, coating everything in a fine carpet of dull grey._

_Ril shuddered, a tear welled up in her eye The people on the colony were nice, for the most part._

_She even felt like an equal at times, but now she couldn't help but feel like a nuisance just being in the way. A suitrat._

_Especially as she was constantly pushed left and right by the moving sea of humans desperately trying to reach their waiting salvation._

_Beyond the colony a massive mushroom cloud rose silently, Nuclear fire consuming and burning everything it touched The shock-wave had already hit as all the toppled and damaged houses demonstrated._

_She was pushed to the side as another shuttle landed, a couple, female supporting her mate, their eyes bled._

_She stood still in a sea of chaos and tumult as the colony seemingly flooded into the rapidly landing blue shuttles._

_She was taken back to the ancient documentaries shown on the fleet about the war with the Geth._

_The imagery was remarkably similar, masses of people scurrying onto shuttles or ships with fireballs in the distance._

_All in the night with an orange glow illuminating everything, fires._

_But ril didn't know what to do, the humans just ran up to a shuttle and when full another landed._

_No guidelines or rules were apparent nothing like the fleet with all it's rituals and procedures._

_As she looked left and right in confusion her hands playing with themselves she was violently shoved face first onto the ground by an unknown assailant._

_People jumped and walked over her as a carpet,she felt a blow to her head and blacked out._

When she had woken up the colony had been empty, no one had carried her unconscious body into a shuttle, they had left her there beaten and bruised with her suit covered in mud.

To her relief the explosion had turned out to be non-nuclear but the results were none the more pleasant.

As Ril lay down on the roof overlooking the park she felt a pang of pain in her back, a remnant from the evacuation.

No matter she could handle it. She was a proud daughter of the fleet, she could handle all of it.

She didn't feel very confident despite her thoughts.

The ship turned out to be smaller than expected, well kept and and tidy but visibly-worn though.

What surprised her was the human leaving the ship through a hatch carrying a large crate.

Tall and blonde wearing and the lower-part of a spacesuit and some short sleeved loose garment..

what was he doing? Setting up beacons? Demolition charges?

Her confusion multiplied as he dragged a collapsible chair from the crate and a smaller bag full of colorful packets.

Food!

And by the looks of disgust as he tossed a few back in the crate maybe some were for dextros! It was worth a look. She wasn't going to starve here, not like one of those horror-stories her classmates told about the pilgrims who never came back.

She continued to contemplate how she should approach the human when she spotted him climbing up the ship with his chair and one of the packets

She giggled as he almost fell down, a hand shot up to cover her voicebox.

Had he heard her?

Apparently not judging by the way he stretched his legs before plopping down into his chair with a comfortable sigh.

Keelah, She realized it had been weeks since she laughed let alone giggled, even if it was at the expense of the rather clumsy human 20 meters in front of her.

As he intently studied a small object with many flaps and a colorful cover she realized something.

He was facing her, if she could go around him then she could approach the ship from the rear and walk to the front! He couldn't possibly see her! The ship was far too tall.

Her stomach growled with delight. A sound that the human _should_ have heard..

His ears did perk up and he turned his head, but before he could see her he turned back to his object while shrugging his shoulders.

A small part of Ril admonished her as she walked along the road, that she was perpetuating a stereotype, why couldn't she ask him for food?

The bigger part of her, the louder one, the one with bruises on her back told her to press on, humans can't be trusted, he wouldn't say yes even if you did ask.

So she did, skulking along the bushes like a predator. All the while the human relaxed and read what she had realized was a book.

Little by little did she approach the ship, until at least she was face to face with hull.

She snuck around the shuttle taking care to avoid any errant branches and debris that could give away her presence.

Still Ril was far from an infiltrator, she was a pilgrim a young Quarian on her first trip to the outside world. And as such she missed a small stick that gave an audible crack when she stepped on it.

Ril froze, any second the human would peek over the edge and spot her, then he'd draw a gun and shoot her or try to beat her or or.

She forced herself to control her breathing. There was no yelling, no loud cocking of chemical propellant weaponry that seemed so popular on colonies.

Just steady deep breathing. Yet another giggle threatened to escape her mouth, the human was asleep! Already!

A soft thud marked the arrival of some object landing beside her, the book..

she ignored it and proceeded to rummage through the crate, still attempting to be as silent as possible.

Sure enough beneath the multitude of old ration packs and ancestors knew what lay a pack of Turian military rations. They had probable been mistakenly packaged and sent off, good for her at least!

She pocketed the ration pack and another before leaving, but she stopped..perhaps she could take a look in the ship maybe there was something more inside.

She awkwardly clambered up the steps, obviously designed for humans. until she reached the hatch..

Then she stopped again. The small part of her, the one she had been saving for the fleet spoke up and briefly overpowered the cynic in her. What was she doing? Entering a ship without permission! Looking for valuables! What the fre'eg had she been thinking!

The ship she realized reminded her of home, not theses blasted lands with people looking down on her, the ship was dented on the inside, worn..yet loved, patchworks covered holes and a few Photos were taped near the pilots seat . the whole interior had an aura homeliness. That was what triggered her rethinking, this wasn't one of those soulless alliance vessels who were scrapped when repairs were too expensive.

This was a home, she didn't know human customs but this ship definitely had a soul, a _Dess'karal _

To think she had moments ago contemplated stealing his ship!, home! A crime worthy of exile were she back on the fleet.

Ril made a decision, she would take the ration pack, he couldn't eat it anyway unless he wanted a new shade painted in his sanitation room, then she'd ask him for a ride somewhere not..here, she would pay for the meal as soon as she managed to scrape some credits together.

As she dropped to the ground she came face to face with the book again. It wouldn't be fair to leave it there..

so she bent down and picked up the book from the grass.

A red ribbon fluttered in the wind, it was attached to the back of the book. She briefly contemplated what it was for when she realized the book was still open, it's pages were slightly dirty but far from unreadable.

Ril didn't know much about books, sure there were a few on the fleet but they had never been passed to her group of children. She silently stroked a page with her gloved hand. This was an opportunity for her to at least touch a book without anyone asking why she was reading books in a language she couldn't comprehend.

The book was worn, just like most of the things this human seemed to own, nothing new or fancy.

As she closed the book she nearly forgot the ribbon.

She realized what it was for and placed it between the two pages before closing the book and gently placing it on the crate. Her hand kept in contact with the little object as long as possible while her legs steadily moved towards the surrounding Colony.

That night Ril lay on the floor of an abandoned prefab clutching the little ration pack while her food-bladder sterilized the food before pumping it to her mask. She thought about what to say to the visitor and whether he'd be inclined to help her away from the colony.

she didn't fall asleep on an empty stomach and the future looked much brighter already.

**Alrighty then, second chapter done I hope you enjoyed! Here's a calinstel style glossary for the word I made**

**_Dess'karal _**

**_Vessels soul._**

**A relatively new word coined around 20 years after the exodus from Rannoch.**

**when offering small tributes to the ship for good luck became popular the quarians tended to give their ship personalities and quirks,a soul for lack of words. nowadays forbidden for a lack of resources but from time to time you can find a small shrine hidden away in an air-duct.**

**I feel nerdier already! (it's a good pain)**

**so favorite, review and follow and all that good stuff!**


	3. Chapter 3

As the sun rose once again over the abandoned Colony Fredrick finally awoke with a loud yawn.

He stretched lazily before opening his eyes and taking in his surroundings.

He hadn't meant to fall asleep in his chair but a days worth of spaceflight was still a days worth.

Everything felt cold and wet, his body was stiff and a thin sheet of dew covered his immediate surroundings like a soft wet blanket.

To his relief no one had arrived before he had awoken, if he knew he was as tired as he was he'd slept in the ship and wouldn't have bothered with dragging a chair up the roof.

As he rose the chair protested with an audible squeak.

He stretched lazily and wobbled slightly, his legs were still warming up.

He rubbed his eyes a few times before grabbing the chair and adjusting his shirt that had shifted in his sleep.

Climbing down the ladder proved unpleasant as the cold metal chilled his fingers and caused him to regret sleeping again, it was a good thing he had his suit and its built in heater otherwise he'd woken up as a popsicle.

Fredrick jumped down from the last step, chair in hand.

He took a moment to survey the colony, his head lazily rotating left and right as he blinked away the blur in his vision.

It really was serene,the colony abandoned as it were the sun slowly rising over it and illuminating the sky in shades of blazing orange and the warmest red and pink.

He felt the sunlight warm his skin and marveled over how nice something simple like warmth felt.

Even the cold of the night started to retreat, it looked like another sunny day was on it's way.

Fredrick decided to investigate one of the prefabs close by, at least that way he wouldn't succumb to boredom quite as quickly.

But first!, breakfast He unceremoniously leaned the chair by the side of his ship and reached for the lid of the crate.

A small part of him hoped the food hadn't been spoiled by a night outside but it was quickly reminded that whatever rations Admin had saw fit to provide was probably dry enough to be used as dreadnaught ammunition.

Then he noticed something lying on the lid, his book! He couldn't believe he had just forgot about it(And the ration packaging still on the roof) But what was it doing here? He raised his head and looked at the point his chair had been if the ship was transparent, if the book had fallen it would've hit the ground and not the crate, there was no way it could fly that far left.

He picked the book up, it was neatly shut with the ribbon firmly placed as far back as possible.

Opening the book reveled a few smears of dirt, Smears! Someone or something must have attempted to brush the dirt away!

But whatever had done it had been careful, the ribbon was completely flat and neatly folded, not a crinkle in sight.

He suddenly found himself a little uneasy, whomever had done this must have done so in his sleep.

A frantic pat down of his pockets ensued after a moment he sighed in relief, at least his wallet and credit chit hadn't been stolen.

But something in the crate had not been as fortunate.

Just as he feared the emergency dextro-supplies had been depleted, but only one or two rations? Who would take so little? Why go through the hassle of stealing if you just take the..oh no

A shocked expression formed on his face his mouth formed an almost perfect O.

footprints by the hatch! Some sneaky little bastard had stolen from his ship!

He scowled and grabbed the folded chair like a bat, in the corner of his eye he noticed a small green and red bush quickly disappear behind a corner but he paid it no mind, he was going to bring chair-based justice to whatever Turian had decided to gorge himself on the supplies.

Inwardly he didn't feel so confident, Turians were big and scary in his opinion, sharp teeth and far too big for their own good.

Then again Fredrick wasn't exactly Commander Shepard so he felt entitled to his flaws.

That was why he jumped into his ship and used the chair as a shield instead of a sword.

No face flaying talons relieved him of his eyes though, everything was as it should have been. Nothing had been disturbed.

He hadn't really though the assailant was inside but he wasn't going to take unneccessery risks.

The footprints, upon further inspection ended just before the floor of his ship started then they turned around, he realized they weren't Turian at all.

Turians had two large toes,he knew that after the dignitaries visited last year. these prints though, they had two smaller but longer toes and a tiny toe that all together looked like a hand, albeit with a very small thumb.

He silently laughed at how panicked he had been, those prints probably belonged to some critter that had stolen one of the bright colored ration-packs, started to explore the ship but got scared when he had shifted in his sleep and somehow the book had been deflected onto the crate.

That had been open when he left it..

Fredrick dropped the chair against a wall and briskly walked off to retrieve the crate still outside.

He practically sprinted inside and shut the hatch, he finally exhaled with the loud Clank and hiss that signaled the ship was sealed.

He slumped down in the pilots seat and tried to get his panting under control.

Maybe he was being a little too frantic? The mysterious book folding...creature had at least refrained from slitting his throat. And he _did_ have that old survival rifle...somewhere, he could take it outside and enjoy the day.

Or he could eat breakfast inside and _then_ go out..

That was a plan he could agree with

No, he couldn't just stay inside like that what if the thief snuck up again. In his ship he couldn't see much more besides forward and a little to the sides. but on the roof he supposed he could stay up there.

He heard the characteristic sound of raindrops hitting the hull, as he had panicked and nearly given himself a heart attack a storm had snuck up on the formerly sunny and cheerful day and started depositing it's payload.

Perhaps staying inside would be preferable, for now at least..

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Ril frowned as she watched the human hurry inside, this wasn't what was supposed to happen.

She had regretted taking from him ever since the day before, why had she done it? Ril didn't know maybe hunger or some sort of primitive sense of revenge, she had after all almost robbed him of his ship.

But scaring a human half to death after he had "donated" food for her, albeit unwillingly had made her feel guilty, she had no intention of hurting him and to her relief he hadn't seem to want to stalk the entire colony to find her but now things were getting out of control.

Him hiding in his ship! As if she was some sort of predator, despite never even talking to him she had enjoyed watching him wake and go about his day.

She had grown fond of him, not as a friend at least not yet but like one of those strange colorful birds she enjoyed watching eating breadcrumbs and squawk excitedly as she fed them.

Though she seriously doubted he would forgive her if she gave him some seeds

most humans didn't seem to like them.

And that was the reason she had stayed in her favorite prefab, occasionally peeking around the corner, she had developed a fantasy that he'd help her off the planet and she was afraid he'd decline or turn out to be like the rest of the aliens she had met.

A small voice in her mind urged her to talk with him, that he was easy prey if he turned violent, what could she lose?

But she ignored the voice. She didn't dare.

Ril looked on the human as he rushed out, grabbed the crate and rushed inside all without stopping.

His chest heaving.

It looked a little funny as the Human frantically wiggled inside the hatch, he was bigger than a Quarian male, all humans were,

an image of him scrambling through the cramped hallways of her birth ship, the "Tozzalk"

knocking over shipmates and loose cargo came to the forefront of her mind and the thought made her stifle a chuckle.

She really needed to reveal her presence but as she heard a thundering rumble and the smattering of water she looked up through one of the missing pieces of roof and saw massive dark clouds slowly advance across the sky, already she could feel it was getting colder, it would be better to wait until the storm had passed.

Rain was already leaking inside the little building.

Ril curled up in a little red ball and tried to keep the cold out.

**Alrighty Chapter 3 is done, i hope you enjoyed it no fancy quarian words today though, but if you review and favorite there will be!**

**(there will be no matter what you do but it's nice to get feedback!)**

**This chapter was a pain originally Fredrick walked around the colony with a gun until both of them were trapped in the same building when the storm came but i didn't like how I wrote it so I changed it to this.**

**Remember Fredrick is just an ordinary colony kid that has no experience with fighting so I thought a more defensive posture was appropriate.**


	4. Chapter 4

A few hours had passed after Fredrick had retreated into the ship, only then did the storm begin to worsen.

The wind howled outside and the windows were almost opaque with rain falling in massive sheets.

He had long since returned the bright orange survival rifle to its locker, he figured no one would brave the storm just for him and the ship, that and his constant fiddling with the gun made him realize the only one about to get shot was himself.

He flinched as another bolt of lightning lit up the interior in a pale blue light.

Soon after loud rumbling could be heard traveling through the ship he called home, the storm was right on top of him.

He sighed and tried to find the specific entry in the "Tirala visitors guide"

After a moment of impatient browsing he had his suspicions confirmed, this storm was a common occurrence something along the lines of the terrestrial monsoon.

That might explain the large amount of drains he thought. Maybe reading a little about the places he went would make his life a little easier.

Then again Horizon and Earth were the only other planets he had landed on.

Fredrick flinched as another bolt of lightning struck close by.

He groaned in irritation as his extra-net access cut out again yet again, there was little he could do except wait for the storm to pass but in this cramped little ship it was easy to get jittery and irritable.

Not to mention paranoid, he knew the Turian that had taken from the emergency supplies was still out there and that thought didn't exactly ease his concerns.

Fredrick found himself looking out the view-port from time to time and when Lightning illuminated the colony he could swear he saw figures moving.

Just a bush.

It's just a bush..

blowing things out of proportion was something Fredrick was good at if the Colonists on Horizon were to be believed. Everything from calling in YMIR-mechs to clear out a Varren holed up in a warehouse to almost blowing up a ship without a valid IFF.

He shrugged and reached over to a cabinet to grab something to eat, maybe a snack would calm him down.

He rifled through the various foodstuffs with renewed vigor.

He felt something soft escape his grasp and reached further inside.

Candy! He grinned widely as he proudly held the colorful bag.

even with all the new technologies and sciences simple candy had persevered.

He supposed it was for the better after all popping one in his mouth was infinitely more enjoyable than reading about Mass effect field physics.

He exhaled loudly as he chewed with a halfway open mouth, being alone in a ship for a long time tended to make manners evaporate.

That and making loud sounds when in enclosed spaces, such as chewing was something often studied when it came to lone spacemen such as him.

The echoes of the sounds apparently soothed the mind , briefly at least.

Though Fredrick felt far more 'soothed' by the sweet taste of his current prey than any sounds made eating it.

He plopped down in his chair again with an audible creak.

As he continued to devour the candy he found himself drawn towards the viewport again.

The colony seemed even more run down than before with the lightning highlighting dark spots and holes in their walls.

He was happy for his little mobile home, no matter how decrepit or old it was he had grown fond of it.

It wasn't his ship per se, owned by the "colonial establishment committee" but there had never been a reason for them to take his ship back, and he did plan on saving up to buy it from "CEC"

And right now he was happier than ever with it, inside it was warm and comfortable.

But outside the storm still raged with seemingly limitless fervor coating his entire ship with a thick mat of water he could even feel it getting a little colder inside.

The amount was incredible! He couldn't believe there could be this much rain could be contained in the clouds above this was enough to sustain an entire colony!

His mind went blank for a moment..water...rain..

"Oh shit!"

He swore loudly, The landing skids! Damnit! He couldn't believe he had forgotten them!, in this weather the compartment from which they folded out from would soon be flooded with water and mud thanks to the malfunctioning doors

and it was a royal pain in the rear to scrape mud and grime from _inside_ the housing.

He sighed, was he really going to be forced to brave the storm?

Thunder crackled above in a resounding "Yep!"

Fredrick frowned and downed the remaining candy in the bag before looking for his suit.

It was going to be a long night..

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Ril'vanni stared at the puddle of water that had steadily been conquering most of the floor of her current shelter.

She was trembling from the cold, her suited arms tightly hugged her torso in a futile attempt to prevent more heat leaking out.

This puddle had been her nemesis.

Ever since she woke up soaked to her skin in dark muddy water it had seemingly stalked her as she moved from prefab to prefab, every hole in roof or blasted window allowed the disgusting concoction to take root.

She growled at the puddle and tried to rise on shaky legs.

She was tired, very tired she thought she had gotten maybe an hour's worth of sleep this night, or day? Time on this planet had never really made sense.

Eventually with the help of a kind shelf Ril rose to her full height though she immediately tried to curl up as far of her body as possible while remaining on two legs, her suit couldn't hold much heat without a powercell.

She continued her walk out looking for dryer shelter.

Her realk and bag fluttered and tugged in the wind, like Rabid animals trying to resist a snare.

Her gaze briefly passed over the colony's horizon.

The sun had settled long ago, the only illumination coming from the bolts of lightning striking the surrounding area.

The sky was as black as the void of space but no stars could be found. Just a massive inky sea of blackness.

She grabbed her bag tighter and started moving through the storm, occasionally stumbling on one of the smooth and slippery stones constituting the colony's roads.

Ril walked like that, struggling against the wind for what felt like hours.

The storm picked up speed and to her great dismay the lightning strikes had been growing in frequency

they were bathing the colony in pale white light before once again rendering it in impenetrable darkness.

She could swear she saw movement in the shadows, her pace quickened and she started looking around anxiously.

She started running, every house she saw looked decrepit and uninviting, hostile with sharp edges and shadows concealing untold horrors.

The smacking of feet on gravel gradually changed as she ran across a field of grass, she really regretted not asking the human for housing, if he declined she could've at least have hidden underneath his ship and warmed herself in it's radiating heat.

She was tired and cold as she finally found relatively dry shelter. Another prefab but this one was mostly intact except for a missing door and an oddly slanting roof.

She stumbled inside on shaky legs, she looked around and spotted nothing out of the ordinary so she began her walk towards the rear of the building, if she's lucky maybe she'd find a bed?

No such luck, ril frowned and slumped down on one of the tables in the living room, the prefab's roof had collapsed over what would have been a bedroom. And all of the furniture were disgustingly moist and moldy.

Her body was exhausted, her legs twitched in protest of the cold and she couldn't stop the trembling traveling through her body.

Ril tried to sleep, relax her eyelids felt so heavy but she couldn't close them.

Just as she did they shot open again, there was no way she could relax enough in this cold to sleep.

She tried and failed to suppress a groan as she lifted herself of the table. It creaked in protest and small cracks had already appeared in the paint covering it.

Suddenly she heard a loud "Clang!" like metal striking another piece of metal, what was that?

Another! soon a loud howling or even grinding noise followed.

She was scared, a small part tried to tell her it was just the wind, but she didn't listen what if there was something stalking her that noise sounded like a Varren!

Ril realized she couldn't possibly defend herself like this, tired and exhausted.

And since her current shelter lacked a door she would be easy prey if the monster found her, no escape.

Her breath quickened and she started running despite the ache in her legs, her hind-brain had started taking over.

Her body shambled out the door, tired eyes barely open scanned the area when she saw a flash of light, not like lightning but warm and yellow it was somehow comforting. and a shadow moving into it, what was that?, everything was a blur and she could barely remain standing.

Her constant trembling made any sort of focus impossible.

Then the light disappeared. And she started fumbling towards where it had come from.

*'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'**'*'*

Fredrick grimaced as he threw another chunk of mud from the hydraulics, he really should have remembered to check them before deciding to hide in his ship.

Any fear for the mystery Turian had evaporated into irritation for his current situation, he was knee-deep in mud and utterly covered with it, and the damned hydraulics wouldn't work!

Dammit!

He banged the side of his wrench against the device, He was going to kill Lars! Idiot thinking a cargo sling can be attached to the landing gear coverings! Idiot!

Fredrick's vivid imaginings of a inflicting a slow death on Lars ceased when he heard the hydraulics do a pitiable little squeak.

he frowned, briefly contemplating his next course of action.

Then he shrugged and hit the offending piece of machinery harder than before, To his delight the panels started closing with incredible noise but at least they were closing.

He grinned and pumped a fist in victory.

Finally he could drag himself out of the mud and take a long warm shower! he smiled at the thought, the airlock was cramped enough without having both a shower-head and a toilet shoved inside but it was better than staying cold.

Luckily the hatches he used planet-side were simple doors and it didn't take long to get inside the warm confines of his ship again, Fredrick doubted he could take waiting for a full cycle.

Once inside he walked straight in the shower/airlock and only then did he strip out of his by now completely soiled suit.

Fredrick sighed in delight as warm water and soap mixture started flowing from not only the shower head but several of the decon nozzles above as well.

He closed his eyes as warm air gradually replaced the flow of water, all programmed in advance to optimize the amount of water used and ensure complete cleanliness and dryness, towels weren't always available.

Soon after, he left the airlock and slipped into the standard spacer attire, a pressure sealed soft lower part but he omitted the upper one for a t-shirt conveniently placed right in front of him.

Fredrick frowned and turned his head towards another viewport, he was amazed to storm was still going strong, the thunder sounded more frequent than before and had changed tone, wait..., that wasn't thunder it sounded a lot lighter and closer, by the hatch next to the pilots seat.

Walking to the hatch to investigate he pressed his ear against the cool metal, sure enough something was banging on it. The sound was faint and muffled by the metal.

He touched the green symbol with an open hand and had to strain his eyes in order to see out in the darkness when the door opened.

"C-can I come in?"

***This was a long one, Originally this was going to be just one chapter but I'll have to split it up so the chapters are a little alike in word count.**

**Originally this chapter would end after a conversation and stuff but that will be done in the next chapter, sorry.**

**But it's being written as we speak though so the wait won't be as long!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Sorry for the wait, I'm lazy and real life has been a pain but mostly I'm just lazy..very lazy**

Fredrick attempted to speak as he looked down on the alien, this wasn't a Turian for sure.

This was another kind of alien, far less intimidating in any case.

She was female, or at least she looked like a humanfemale with breasts and wide hips.

She wore a black skintight suit covered by red cloth, a small helmet with a large green visor covered her face except for a pair of glowing white eyes, that at the moment were pleading with him.

"Of course! Come on in! It's freezing outside!"

Ril couldn't help but smile a little at how the human stood dumbfounded before letting her inside.

He was clearly one of the preferable Aliens, those that had not seen a Quarian before maybe he didn't share the same prejudices many others had..

Fredrick was forced to pull the Quarian inside, her constant shivering made climbing the few steps nearly impossible that and her odd three long toes made finding a grip hard within the shallow indentations.

She didn't say anything as she entered but he was sure he could have heard a mangled "Thank-you" through her presumably chattering teeth as she once again hugged her body tight.

"are you alright?"

She nodded slowly. Now he didn't really know what was the next step, injuries he could handle.

He pondered on what to do, the colonial manual didn't mention aliens in distress But he decided to go with what seemed to be the best course of action, especially when said alien was freezing and trembling the deckplates apart, a hot shower was coming up.

"Come on, we need to get you warmed up"

The Quarian hesitated at first, tensing and not taking a step, he stopped and looked at her quizzically.

"Relax it's just a shower.." Upon seeing her still rooted in place he elaborated "You know, hot water to get you warm."He looked at her muddy feet and added "and cleaned up"

Then she moved, tentatively and slowly, trailing mud across the floor though that seemed like a petty concern at the moment.

The pair reached the airlock which was still open after Fredrick's own shower.

He noticed her shivering had seemed to lessen as he bent down to input a few commands. That was good.

Three 'wash-cycles' should probably be sufficient, the warm air and water should make the Quarian stop freezing at least.

"There" he pressed the final button and stepped out of the airlock, he gestured with a nod of his head towards the cramped little compartment. "In you go"

She reluctantly walked inside, and Fredrick closed the door behind her with a muffled thud, he sincerely hoped she wasn't' claustrophobic as the airlock was far from generous in size.

Soon he heard water start spraying from inside of the door, maybe he should prepare the second bunk? With the storm still raging it seemed likely she would spend the night at least.

He wouldn't force her out in this weather in any case.

He started rummaging through one of the cabinets holding the various cloths and eventually he ended up with a pillow and a puffy quilt in his hands.

As he pressed the button that would unfold the second bunk from its socket he could swear he heard mumbling of some cheery little tune from behind the door, Quarians had some things in common with humans apparently he thought with a smile.

It didn't take long for the bunk to unfold completely and lock itself in position, he went to work placing the sheets, occasionally brushing away stray pebbles that had remained since that dust storm on Horizon.

Making a bed took a little longer than expected but soon he stepped back and admired his handiwork, It looked rather comfortable, though he hoped the gusts of warm air would dry her completely, all those cloths looked like they could hold lots of water.

He almost stumbled on the lower part of the bed. With it deployed the space inside the ship was substantially reduced and he was forced to inch his way past on his way to 'the bridge' as he jokingly called the two seats and control panel at the front of his ship.

He turned his head and body as he heard the door open with a hiss and a gout of warm air.

The Quarian walked out, she had stopped shivering and her arms dangled by her sides instead of being hugged to her torso

"feeling better?" Fredrick asked with a smile as he straightened out a stray last crinkle.

"Yes, sir Thank you for this gift of resources sir."

He frowned as she called him sir and the tone she used, sounding like a subordinate.

"No worries" He looked at her quizzically"Don't call me sir though, my name is Fredrick Miller but you can just call me Fredrick" She nodded and walked a step forward walking any further was mostly inhibited by the bunk-bed.

"okay si...Fredrick, Thank you so much for letting me inside, I will repay this gift of resources as soon as I am able."

She made short pause before she continued speaking in a less stiff tone of voice."And I am Ril'Vanni nar Tozzalk, but you can call me Ril."

"You're welcome Ril" He said with a smile, Fredrick still sensed some tension from her and attempted to ease her worries. He really didn't blame her, there was no shortage of Pirates and criminals in this sector not to mention all the slavers.

"But there's no need for you to repay me" The storm was still raging outside and he pointed a hand to one of the view-ports overlooking a particularly dark section of the park.

"I couldn't just leave you out there, and making you pay for basic human decency wouldn't be right."

The Quarian visibly shook once he had stopped talking, astonished for some reason.

"Are you alright?" maybe she had been colder than he thought?

"Yes, yes I'm fine, just a little surprised."

"How come?" he was genuinly confused, he hoped he hadn't hit her head outside or something.

Ril'Vanni twiddled her hands and looked a little awkward as she was still standing, Fredrick was too and maybe finding a seat would make the conversation a little less tense.

"Come on, have a seat." He gestured to the co-pilots seat, but she instead looked at the bed blocking most of the interior.

Then she looked up and saw his own bunk which was high enough not to need folding up, and then she turned those glowing little marbles to him, wide in what he guessed was amazement.

She gestured with a small three-fingered hand to the bed he had just finished making before speaking.

"D-Did you prepare this for me?"

"Course I did, I assumed you didn't want to sleep on the floor, or _outside_."

Ril shook slightly, there was no sign of the storm abating and she still felt a little chilly, though this kind human had helped with most of it.

"Keelah..thank you." she exclaimed as she touched the quilt with an almost reverent touch.

Fredrick was a little confused and once he had sat down in the pilot's seat he spoke.

"I appreciate the gratitude, but why are you so surprised? I just readied a bunk.."

Ril stopped her slow touching and caressing of the bed and looked at him, "I'm a Quarian. People tend to, dislike us.." she used a tone signifying he was missing something obvious.

"Oh, well why don't they like you? "

"They call us thiefs and Pirates! Treat us like dirt! Just because we live on ships..." She noticed his eyes were opening wide at her little outburst and his mouth had formed an almost perfect a_xr'oo_

"Sorry." She lowered her head. "It's just so frustrating."

Fredrick chuckled "Don't worry, that's understandable I've had to deal with many a clerk who were less than enthusiastic at my presence." He frowned in thought, "Though that might been since I'm a colony kid..."

Ril lifted her head and noticed he was looking at her with a smile, she had decided she liked this human.

"You can sit you down you know. You looked quite exhausted when you stumbled inside." Ril nodded, she had nearly forgotten her own fatigue, and decided to take the humans advice.

The bed was soft and yielding and she couldn't quite stifle a delighted sigh, this was way better than Tables and floors!

"comfy?"

He watched in amusement as she suddenly flopped the rest of her body down into a lying position.

She nodded slowly and Fredrick had to strain to stop another smile, she looked _very_ cute sprawled out on the bunk.

"Keelah yes" she yawned, her eyes were having trouble staying open."I can't thank you enough si, Fredrick"

"Don't worry about it" he said with a smile "I suppose you'd like to get some rest, though you're supposed to lie _under _the sheets."

She turned her helmet to face him.

"Under?" She asked in confusion, upon seeing him nod she grabbed the sheet and sure enough there was another layer beneath the one she was lying on.

This was luxury beyond anything she had ever experienced, a far cry from the stiff and frayed sleeping mats on the flotilla.

"Ancestors! how do you humans ever leave these in the morning?" She exclaimed and worked her way under the sheet, normally she would remove her boots and _Realk_ when resting but she was far too tired.

"it's hard sometimes I admit" He reached over to kill the lights, plunging the room into darkness.

"Goodnight Ril'Vanni nar Tozzalk." She chuckled and curled further into the bed with a satisfied combination of a sigh and a yawn.

"Good night Fredrick'Miller vas" She yawned again, but louder this time."old shuttle."

Fredrick chuckled in return as he sat down in his chair again, to his delight the computer had regained connection to the Extranet.

He could finally watch 'Spectre'! though a glance to his right made him reach for his earpiece, there was no need to be rude...

**A****_xr'oo_**

**_O_**

_**an old letter equivalent to one of our hieroglyphs.**_

_**Looks like an O.**_

_**Part of a larger system of pictogram rarely used except as ornaments and decoration, even then translations must be provided in Khelish as every Quarian might not understand.**_

**So all done, next chapter coming up, once again I'm sorry for the wait!**

**I'd like to promise the wait won't be as long for the next chapter, but I doubt I can keep that promise.**

**Thanks for all the follows and reviews!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this and don't forget to favorite and review and all that stuff!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Ril awoke with a start, her arms and legs flailed about to dislodge whatever this soft menace that was using her as a place to rest.

Then she stilled, her chest quickly rising and falling, now she remembered the human and the bed she was lying on.

Ril sighed and relaxed with a loud exhale. Her head was aching, maybe she had been colder than she thought?

The bed creaked as she rose up, she had slept enough and taking advantage of the human's hospitality to stay inside under those..wonderful soft sheets was not her way.

As she tried her best to rearrange her _realk_ she noticed a small piece of paper fall off the far side of the bunk.

She scrambled across the mattress and managed to fish it up from the floor after a few attempts.

She activated her translation program with a gesture on her Omnitool which flickered ominously, finally a small beep signified the program was running.

The odd angular human letters turned into smooth flowing and most importantly, readable Khelish on the surface of her HUD.

"_Good morning Ril I hope you slept well._

_You seemed rather tired last night so I didn't wake you, I am outside trying to fix the landing gear for once. There's some food in the top right cabinet and a heater in the bottom right one if you're hungry._

_-Fredrick."_

Ril hesitated after reading the note, she _was_ hungry, her stomach reminded her of that.

A ration pack didn't last for very long. But as she peered inside the cabinet she saw a multitude of foodstuffs, he had apparently decided keeping supplies in a shipping crate wasn't very coming.

There were a pair of Turian rations that caught her eye, these were the same kind as the ones she had eaten before but there were also another kind of rations, she picked one up, these were apparently made by the Alliance.

Maybe she could eat one? Ancestors knew she wanted to, and he had pointed out were they were in the note.

But which one? The Turian or the Alliance ones?, She decided to grab one of them and ask the human, he seemed nice.

Not before straightening a few folds on her skirt though, she had lost the original lower cloth when rioting broke out on the citadel, Ril had attempted to make it look identical to her old cloth but without the 'Vanni patterns it was a futile endeavor.

As she opened the door, she was greeted with sunshine, there was no sign of the human, Fredrick, it was so strange calling an alien by name.

She looked down to her feet and noticed a second pair of feet, sticking out _under_ the ship.

So that's where he was!

"Hello?" Ril jumped as she heard a muffled metallic thud "Dammit!"

The feet disappeared and were soon replaced by a certain human rubbing his forehead.

"ow.." he mumbled as he rubbed the bruise with a gloved hand.

"Are you alright!?"

"what? yes I'm fine..

"Are you sure? I can.."

"Don't worry about it."

He dragged himself from out of under the ship and brushed some dirt from his back.

His frown turned into a pleasant smile and he decided to change topic.

"Well good morning in any case, did you sleep well?"

Ril struggled to contain a gush of adjectives describing that wonderful bed.

"Keelah yes, I cant appreciate my gratitude enough!"

Fredrick smiled, her enthusiasm was starting to rub off on him.

"well I'm glad I could help, hey whats that?" He pointed to the hand holding a ration pack, Ril sheepishly showed it to him.

"Oh, I thought you ate already?" He chuckled "don't tell me this has to do with the 'gift of resources'"

Ril nodded sheepishly, How come he was so unconcerned?

"Well I'm not a Turian" seeing her eyes snap to his he hastily added "_Or _a Quarian, so it'd be wasteful for you _not_ to eat that."

Ril still hesitated, taking gifts from strangers were a good way to be accused of thievery.

"Can you eat those? You seem very apprehensive, I-I haven't opened them or anything."

The Human looked a little unsettled.

She realized she had been scrounging up into an angry frown at the thought of that Turian bosh'tet, her eyes had probably given away her toothy scowl.

"Keelah I'm sorry! I just.." She sighed explosively and tried to collect herself. "it's just..people don't give me things without strings attached."

"Hey, I don't know what you've been through..but what could I possibly gain by being mean to you?"

She looked first at the pack of food, then at the human who looked like he was resisting reaching out.

"Alright." she conceded with a nod and moved the pack towards the appropriate slot on her suit.

The flavor was bland like most paste, but with an interesting texture that made the eating a little more enjoyable, at first The Alliance wasn't the best when it came to dental hygiene, the nutritious goop stuck to her teeth. And it would take more than a sanitation spray to dislodge it.

"Come on, have a seat you're...looming."

Ril nearly choked on her tongue at that. He was right though, he was still partway under the ship, while she was still in the doorway.

"Sorry." she said and placed herself next to the human who was trying to worm his way from under the ship.

He chuckled as he loudly popped his back with a loud crack. "Don't be" After finally dislodging himself from his predicament Fredrick sat himself down in front of Ril.

Ril watched him warily as he made himself comfortable, unconsciously she moved the ration pack closer to herself.

"Taste good?" Ril nodded, her tongue too occupied with cleaning her teeth to speak.

"Good, I've been meaning to ask you a few questions."

She nodded slowly trying to dislodge a particularly troublesome chunk.

"Right, first of all." He gestured around the colony with a hand and then her."How are you still here? I thought everyone were evacuated."

Her mood dropped instantly at his question.

"I-I was going to..I-I.."She sighed deeply and turned her head to the ground, the evacuation was still fresh in her mind. But Ril composed herself, the human deserved to know at least.

"I wanted to, but I didn't know what to do..there were so many people.." She started drawing lines in the sand. "I was just about to enter the shuttle, when the crowd."taking a shuddering breath she struggled to continue "the crowd-"

"Hey, you don't need to tell me if it's making you uncomfortable." Fredrick had spotted the way her head had drooped, and the way her fingers anxiously dug through the small patch of dried mud they were seated on.

He had to resist putting an arm on her shoulder, the Quarian looked _very_ distraught.

Her eyes met his once again as he spoke.

"Ok, so something went wrong at the evacuation, but how come you were here in the first place?"

Ril exhaled at the change of topics and concern over her state of mind, this Human was something else, clearly.

"I'm on my Pilgrimage" she continued talking, mentally switching over to the same explanation she had told a multitude of aliens. "It's a rite of passage, we venture into space to bring something of worth home to the Flotilla. To prove we are worthy of joining a ship."

"Ah, ok, what did you want to bring back from here if I may ask?"

Ril shrugged casually.

"Just money, I needed to get back on my feet after..things happened on the Citadel."

Ril noticed the human looked rather sad when she had stopped talking, why? Did he lose someone in the riots?

"I'm sorry to hear that..Seems like things have been hard on you."

She nodded somberly, Things hadn't been going very well, being thrown out of the Citadel and stuck on this colony where half of the people hated her and the other half treated her as some sort of mysterious artifact.

Then she smiled inside her helmet. Things were looking up at least, and it felt good to talk with someone apparently devoid of the usual distrust and disgust when talking to her.

"But You are here at least, I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't arrived, I cannot thank you enough." To her surprise the human reddened slightly.

"Don't' worry about it, I'm sure you could manage."

"I _was_ starving when you landed."

"oh.."

"And I was freezing when you let me in."

"oh."

"And that was the best nights sleep I've ever had."

"oh."

Ril nodded, victorious, plus it was funny to see the Human fumble around her praise.

"well I suppose you should thank Lars then." He said with a chuckle.

"Lars?"

"Yeah, he's the one who decided to buy more farming equipment rather than fabricate our own."

Ril nodded, but inside her head gears were turning, farming equipment! Humans still grew food on actual fields and not vats?

"and the shipping company he contracted doesn't ship to colonies in Horizon's region."

She forced herself back from musings about Human food production.

"Not to mention he's the one who thought you could transport two containers at once by stringing one under the landing gear. Which was what I was fixing just before you knocked."

Ril nodded as the Human explained, she felt happy knowing the human came from a Colony, they were usually rather close knit like the Flotilla.

"Yes, I heard the noise and saw you enter." she chuckled slightly. "Keelah I was terrified when I heard that, I thought it was some Varren wanting to kill me." Fredrick remained silent as she started talking about her side of the story.

"I don't know why but I ran towards the sound instead of away, I think.. guess I wasn't thinking straight."

"Well then we both have scared the crap out of each other, I was convinced you were a Turian bandit just waiting to kill me."

She felt a little guilty at that, sure it had been fun seeing a Human terrified of her instead of the other way around.

But he had stayed inside all day, occasionally peeking out a view port.

He didn't seem to mind though, the grin on his face illustrated his opinion on hiding inside perfectly.

She didn't share the grin

"I'm sorry, for scaring you" She said quietly.

The human looked at her, his grin gone replaced by a worried frown.

"you really need to stop apologizing..in any case it was I who overreacted"

"what about the.."

"the food? You could have asked but as I said before. I have no need for it."

he glanced at the now empty tube of paste and asked in an amused tone.

"How come you didn't ask?"

Ril shrugged and fidgeted on the ground.

"I was afraid you'd say no" She managed to still herself once she crossed her legs.

"well consider yourself forgiven." He said with a smile, Ril couldn't help sigh in relief.

"Thank you" Ril paused as she thought up a new question, it was one she had needed to ask the moment Fredrick had landed.

She intensely hoped he would say yes.

"I hate to ask this of you..but I need transport." she struggled to continue, she hated begging for things but in this it was necessary, unless she wanted to call for pickup from the fleet.

And be shunned for the rest of her life as a failure.

"Oh, Where to?"

Ril's mouth popped open and worked under her visor, she had expected bartering, or even payment in goods..'services'

Not just..an affirmative..

"I-I To..Anywhere but here..."

"I can do that."

He thought a little for a moment.

"I'm sure there's work back at horizon if that's what you're interested in. I could always use some help."

"Are you offering me a job!?"

He grinned at her continued amazement at him not treating her like crap this was really something odd, both for him and her.

"Sure, I could use somebody who can help operate that thing" He pointed a thumb at the large crane-arm folded up behind the main compartment.

"And Admin is really cheap, doesn't hire off-world contractors, only reason I got this job is because my parents where born there."

Ril blinked a few times, trying to process the information, here was a Human, a species who had almost always distrusted her, but this Human had fed her and provided shelter.

And now He was offering her a job Her grin felt like it would tear itself apart and collapse into some sort of happiness/relief singularity.

Fredrick suddenly found himself jumped by a very grateful Quarian.

**So Chapter 6 is done! Now I plan to get the story moving a little in the next chapter, since these chapters have been spent just sitting around.**

**No new words today though.**

**Comments and favs are appreciated and I lappreciate everyone who follows and comments just so you know!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Fredrick gasped for air as Ril latched onto him.

Turns out Quarians hugged rather tightly.

He awkwardly patted her back with his one free hand while she blabbered thank-you's and several other words he had no idea what they meant.

The human wasn't exactly familiar with these kinds of situations, fortunately for him

It didn't take long for Ril to untangle herself and step away from the hug, she looked rather embarrassed under that alluring visor of hers.

He chuckled as she tried to look at anything except for him.

Should he say something? She looked rather uncomfortable sitting there.

"You didn't have to hug me you know" he said with a smile, Ril seemed confused however, with one eyebrow cocked under the visor, that in turn confused him.

"I thought that's how humans expressed gratitude?"

"What?" He chuckled "No why did you think that?"

"I saw a man getting help with his door from someone else, then they hugged and walked inside.

Same with a broken Hovercar, they hugged and walked inside."

Fredrick chuckled, He was pretty sure why she had made that mistake, though it didn't hurt to draw it out a little he thought with a grin.

"And did those people happen to look similar?"

Ril nodded once.

"And were one person around 20-30 years older than the other?

She nodded again.

"I don't know much about you humans but one had grey streaks in his mane..thing" She gestured to his hair with a hand eliciting another amused grin from Fredrick. "I think that's a sign of advanced age. and I overheard somebody saying she was thirtysix years old."

Fredrick grinned "That's because they were family!"

Ril stayed silent for a few seconds, then groaned and slapped her helmet.

"Keelah.."

He chuckled and was about to make a particularly witty remark but was cut short as he heard a loud ominous hiss from underneath the ship.

"Oh shit!" He grumbled and bent down to look at the undercarriage, sure enough the pressure tube he just fixed, by kicking it. was leaking hydraulic fluid and air...again.

he started worming his way underneath again with a frown on his face, he made a mental note to get to a mechanic some time.

After a few seconds during which Ril reverently put the empty paste tube in a pocket as she watched the human work his way underneath the ship, ungracefully. she heard him ask.

"Hey Ril, Can you help me with this?"

He heard an eager affirmative and some loud shuffling, eventually the Quarian had worked herself down in the little depression he had dug to more comfortably reach into the Landing gear's system.

Problem was the only occupants he had in mind was himself and his toolkit so once Ril had managed to worm her way inside the two ended up _very _close.

Shoulder to shoulder he could feel her hips pressed against his.

Concentrate..

"Right, so this tube keeps leaking and I think it would be better to just remove it.

It's damaged beyond repair and my little truck has triple redundancies so we should be fine."

He patted the hull when he mentioned his truck, then he turned to Ril who turned her head to his, she seemed deep in concentration though.

"What do you think?"

To his surprise she shrugged.

"Why ask me?"

"well I thought you lived on a ship."

She chuckled, She really sounded amused.

"And you lived on a planet, yet you're not a geologist.

I'm a nurse, or I'm training to be one.."

"oh."

she giggled as he went back to examining the tube, now he'd have to make a decision for himself and maintenance wasn't really his forte.

Maybe some small talk would make things go faster he thought while turning one of the vents to it's closed position.

"How did it go then?"

"what?"

"The nurse training."

"Oh, well it's fun but I had to interrupt it because of my Pilgrimage, normally you leave when you are nineteen but I didn't go until I was twenty."

She sounded a little sad at that.

"well that's good, that you enjoyed it I mean." The struggling vent finally decided to relent and the trickle of fluid stopped."Hey, how old are you anyway?"

"I'm twenty two, and you?"She asked while looking at him quizzically. He chuckled "I'm the same age."

"Oh, then one could say you're on a Pilgrimage too?"

She sounded a little more cheerful now, Happy even.

"Sure though I don't have a ship to go back to, hey hand me that light will you?" He had attempted numerous times to see whatever was clogging the tube but it was far too dark. And he had to use both hands in order to see whatever was inside the tube, otherwise it would slide right back in it's housing.

"Ril didn't move.

"It's in the bag over there," He gestured with his head over to the toolkit sitting by his side.

Ril nodded awkwardly and clambered over him, she rifled through the the sack of tools and equipment until she found a bright orange little flashlight.

"Is this the one?" she asked and held the little gadget out for him to see.

"yeah that's the one, could you hold it out for me so I can see whatever inside this tube."

She nodded and chirped an "Ok"

He groaned as Ril placed her arm on his chest and the flashlight right besides his head.

The girl was thorough if anything...

He squinted, straining his eyes to see whatever was inside. sure enough there was a blockage In the tube, he grumbled loudly it was just as he thought it would be.

The tube was dented and completely unsalvageable,there was a reason _kicking _wasn't in any handbooks_,_ he _could_ take it to the shop but it would be cheaper to just buy a new one.

"What's the matter?

"See this little divot there?"

She bent her head to get a better angle, earning a grunt from Fredrick as her helmet pressed against his chest, Ril didn't seem to notice though.

"That makes this whole tube not much better than scrap"

"I see.."

"hmm, well I better get it out of it's socket, no need to have a damaged component installed right?"

He felt her nod, as he attempted to reach the mounting points Ril still hadn't moved away.

"Erm.."

"Sorry"

He chuckled as Ril sheepishly removed her head.

He reached for the bolts, with a few twists off his screwdriver they loosened and soon he had a broken pressure tube in his hands.

"There!" his moment of triumph halted quite quickly though, he had missed one of the vents while talking to Ril hydraulic fluid gurgled forth from the pipes quickly transitioning from a trickle into a stream.

He sputtered and coughed as the residual liquid in the system was drained , on his face.

Ril meanwhile giggled as he coughed and spluttered like a man possessed.

"Very funny." He sputtered as he wiped his eyes with one relatively clean hand

"ugh" He exclaimed as he finally wiped most of the gunk off his face, the pool of fluid had formed quite a puddle of mud and oil, the two were quite soaked, small splashing noises were heard as he managed to tighten the pipe

Ril agreed with a disgusted "Keelah." as she attempted to dislodge a particularly stubborn globule from her glove.

"Yeah..hey whats that sound?" He started crawling his way from out underneath the vessel, not bothering to stay underneath the ship in the muck for longer than absolutely necessary.

He stood up after rolling in the grass a few times, leaving a large brownish stain but his suit was a little less dirty for the effort.

Ril soon joined him.

"what is it?" she asked as she watched the human stare at the sky, as if searching for something.

"Don't you hear it?"

She frowned and attempted to concentrate on the sounds above, there was something...she thought it had been the wind, the storm howling in the distance.

"Yes, I think.." She could definitely hear it now, a resounding roaring sound, but far away

"Look!"

Suddenly Fredrick jabbed a finger skywards, pointing at something small and yellow she aligned her eyes to his finger and saw what he was pointing at.

What she saw made her fingers treble and her feet take a small step closer to her human friend, who looked just as scared, he shuffled a little towards her as well, not breaking eye contact with the object.

She saw A massive fireball hurtling down the atmosphere, bits and pieces falling away as flames licked the hull of whatever the object consisted of, trailing clouds of noxious black smoke that formed a long black streak on the serene afternoon sky.

**Okay chapter 7, told you the story was going to move a little more forward.**

**And don't forget to review!**

**Took quite some time getting this (short) chapter written, real life is the reason why, sorry for the wait.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Keelah, what is that?" She watched in almost reverent silence as the fireball descended, it was large. And getting larger, closer as it tumbled through the sky.

"I have no idea...a ship maybe?"

"maybe.."

The two flinched as a particularly large piece fell away from the tumbling inferno.

Ril felt deeply unsettled as the hulk careened downwards, it reminded her of the day Tirala had been deprived of it's spaceport, an event that still lay fresh in her mind no matter how much she wanted it gone.

"Do you think it'll hit us?" She noticed the corners of her mouth were rising, the human's slightly terrified question sounded rather funny coming from _him _then again this was the man who had locked himself inside his ship when they first met, Ril didn't fancy herself as a flesh tearing murderous alien but Fredrick had a different opinion apparently.

"I doubt it, look at the angle."

"ah.. I think it'll hit the ground soon." He said with a small amount of tension

"I hope it's empty, just look at the size of it!, all those people.." It looked like a ship for sure, long and thin with many protrusions. If it was from the fleet it would no doubt have been home to hundreds of families.

Fredrick noticed her worried tone and touched her shoulder in a comforting manner.

"If there were people on board I'm sure they used the life-pods."

She resigned herself to a slow nod in both gratitude at his gesture and hopeful acknowledgment that the crew had indeed evacuated.

The two didn't speak anymore as they watched it fall down in tense anticipation, as it closed to the surface both of them stiffened in preparation.

It hit the ground prow first with incredible force, though still relatively intact, some of the retro thrusters must have activated in the nick of time.

The impact broke the vessels spine, it staggered and split in half.

The impact made when the two pieces toppled and fell launching another shock wave that could be felt all the way back where Fredrick and Ril were.

The two watched in silence as a pillar of smoke started rising from the by now decimated patch of forest.

Various crumbling sounds could still be heard as metal groaned and twisted under the heat.

Fredrick was the first to shake himself from the shock.

"Come on, we need to get there, go inside I'll fetch the bag." he had to tug her shoulder in order for her to start moving, and when she did it was slow with many glances back to the burning inferno a few kilometers away.

Fredrick tried to clean himself off as best he could after emerging once again from underneath the ship, but as he sat down in his chair he noticed to his dismay that he was still leaving great stains on the floor and stool.

"You all ready?" he asked and looked over at Ril who had no problem in defeating his age old nemesis, seat belts.

"Yes, but we need to go now! hurry!" Normally he might have chuckled at her hurried tone, but the situation was far too grim, how many people were on that ship?

Fredrick attempted to dispel thoughts like that, they were going to help that's all they can do. But as he closed the door and fired up the drives he still couldn't suppress a shudder at the thought of the crew and passengers.

Ril looked out of a window as the ship finally broke away from the ground with the whine of heavy lift-thrusters.

It felt good to be flying again even if it was only for a short time, she turned her head from the window and watched the Human tap his console with those odd five fingers, how did he keep track of all of them?

He hummed in approval at something on the console and rose from his seat.

"Is that suit of yours shielded?"he asked as he grabbed a helmet from an adjacent cabinet in his hands, of course it was shielded...

"Of course it is." She frowned behind the mask, maybe this human wasn't as clever as she thought. "Why do you ask, it's standard for every suit to be shielded is it not?"

The human reddened slightly, though she didn't get to see much of it as he hastily shoved his head inside the helmet.

"It just looks so...thin.."She cooked her head to one side in confusion, a mannerism picked up from aliens, it was a good thing she had a helmet on because inside it Ril had a massive toothy grin plastered all over her face.

"Oh, why would you think that?" She asked in a teasing tone, she immensely enjoyed the way he froze up.

"erm.. ..erm."Her grin grew as the human stuttered and tried to find his tongue.

"Somethings got your tongue?.."

He closed his mouth and stared at her for a moment, she suddenly realized what tone she had used, _and_ the posture she had adopted, Keelah! where did that come from?

"Very funny Ril.." She was happy the Human didn't seem to have noticed and was glad she had avoided that bullet.

The two maintained an awkward silence for the rest of the trip, trading occasional glances but as they closed to the crash site the mood inside became more somber.

Both of them expected to find bodies, or at least many wounded.

With a few pulls of the control yoke Fredrick guided the ship down towards a relatively flat piece of land and with a few adjustments to the rudders it didn't take long for the ship to come to rest onto the ground.

"You ready?"

Ril nodded decisively, he didn't feel the same bravado as she apparently did but he thought he had to do _something _so he suppressed the tiny little voice in the back of his head that told him to leave, and went about checking his suit one final time.

He didn't see any open life-pod hatches, that meant the crew (If they lived) were trapped inside, that meant he would have to find an opening and get inside.

Nodding to himself as his suit confirmed its integrity with a pleasant green light, a vital concern when dealing with crashed ships and potential Eezo exposure. Fredrick rose from his seat and joined Ril by the door.

The first thing Ril noticed when the door opened was the rush of air, it was hot not the pleasantly warm and homely atmosphere inside the ship but hot, hot and laden with ashes, coarse somehow as if the air itself was malicious.

She glanced at the human who clambered down the steps, she didn't feel the bravado _he _apparently felt but she had resolved to help no matter what.

"my god.."

Ril couldn't help but agree with the Human's assessment, in front of them lay the wreckage, it was big to say the least, nearly thirty meters tall and burning with incredible ferocity.

Both she and him were forced to constantly brush away ash and flakes of dust from their respective visors, the ash stuck to her suit like the little decorative paper fragments she had played with in her bubble when she was young.

Another thing that reminded Ril of her youth was how the Human in front of her paced back and forth, looking for an opening in the inferno like an agitated animal, at times he saw an opening and walked towards it with renewed vigor but it didn't take long until the flames once again closed the gap and he was forced to retreat to his original position..

She was well aware it was a futile endeavor, he had landed close to the least dense flames but even then the heat was far too much for even the barriers on his and her suits to take.

The human seemed to have come to the same conclusion, he had stopped his pacing, shoulders drooping and his head looking down.

"There was nothing you could have done.." she stepped forward and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Come on." The human didn't react to her touch so she gently tugged him towards the ship, that made him move.

Ril didn't' know how the human felt but assumed he hadn't gotten the same training and coping methods that she had learned on the fleet. That wasn't to say she was cold or callous when looking at the crash, she merely recognized there was nothing she could have done.

"What do we do now?" He managed, his voice was filtered through the obscuring helmet and could barely be heard over the raging inferno.

"I don't know.."

"I tried calling for help on the way over here but there was no reception.."

He sat down on the edge of the door with a sigh, the doorway which was only halfway sealed to keep the ash out proved a small but convenient bench, Ril joined him and sat down besides him.

"We're far out in the terminus, there isn't many people around."

He grunted in response, perfectly illustrating his mood, Ril didn't blame him, despite all the training she felt a little down as well. She couldn't help but sigh as a large piece of the wreck crashed down onto the ground below.

"hey" The human turned to her, she couldn't see his eyes through the opaque visor but imagined they looked right at hers. "as you said, there was nothing we could do."

She smiled beneath her helmet despite the burning wreckage in front of them, this human, no _Fredrick_, Fredrick was a nice human. She found herself tilting her head to the left in a Quarian style smile, though he probably didn't know what that meant.

That saddened her for some reason.

She watched the hum-Fredrick jump from his seat after a particularly large piece of debris had crashed down close to them both, apparently this one held some significance.

He practically ran up to it, picked it up like a treasured possession! She merely looked on as he rifled through the debris until he found a rather large crate which he quickly pried open.

"What are you doing?"

"Just a moment!" now Ril was very confused, it had only been a few seconds since he had seemed so distressed and now he was picking through the crate like a shipment of meat-paste back home!

"There!" He grabbed an odd contraption that looked quite intact compared to the crate it was in, only a _little_ charred.

It was white, about 1.2 meters long and ended in a socket of some sort, he examined a spot on it closely and compared it to his omnitool a few times before rising triumphantly to his full height.

"What is that?"

"This" he pointed to the object, his voice had a grin in it."This is an arm module for one of the tractors back home!"

"Okay...and-" She was cut off by the enthusiastic human continuing.

"We use them to attach tools but a few broke last month." Ril nodded and waited for him to continue, now she was utterly dumbfounded, Had his suit malfunctioned? He wasn't acting rationally, maybe his oxygen scrubbers had clogged up?

"And that is why admin ordered a few new ones, and that was why I'm here!" He lifted the arm up for her to see, nothing out of the ordinary from what she could tell, except the light coating of soot.

"Okay, but this still doesn't explain why you're acting like this, are you... alright?"

"I'm fine, I noticed the serial numbers match up! This is.._was_ the freighter that was going to deliver these to me."

He pointed a finger towards the burning wreckage that his back was now facing." And that freighter was the 'MSV-Sandholm', a _drone_ freighter!"

Now the airlock formed a seal!, a drone freighter carried nothing but a VI and its cargo, there were no casualties! Except the VI of course but Ril had never liked those anyway...

"That's great!" She sighed in relief, since the moment the two had spotted the ship Ril had been expecting to find bodies and corpses, now all she could expect was rubble!

"Yeah!" He paused and continued in an amused tone, "Bet Admin will be right irritated though" he finished his sentence with a chuckle.

"But why did it crash?"

"I have no Idea, maybe a loose cord? Heck if I know" He sat down besides her again while still examining the arm."At least one of these got out intact."

"How many were in there?" she leaned over to examine a large scratch in the arm's coating.

"The manifest says there were forty five on board in a container. I guess it broke when the ship crashed and a few of them poured out." Ril glanced at the crate he had pried open, the paint was already starting to peel from the extreme heat, she felt her barriers flare occasionally, Fredrick had apparently come to the same conclusion.

"Maybe we should get out of here?" Fredrick nodded an affirmative at her suggestion and rose, a little too quickly as Ril noticed how he swayed slightly before moving inside, to her amusement.

She too entered the vessel and wondered what path her pilgrimage would take next now that they had no reason being on Tirala.

She decided not to mull over thoughts like that, and instead sunk down into the comfortable seat and watched in silence as the ground moved away from them.

**Alright Next chapter will have them leave Watson/Tirala but that's all you will get to know, the story is picking up and the crash will have relevance too.**

**But Reviews people! I want to know what you think! Maybe you don't review because of some fault or something? Well now you have a chance for me to fix the faults! I can't improve without input and feedback (well I guess I could read through a lexicon or two..)**

**And it's nice to hear people opinion on stuff I've done!**

**And no new words..the few I have planned didn't have any opportunity to be mentioned.**

**Sorry for the wait anyways but studies take priority as I'm sure you understand**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Fredrick grunted in approval as he managed to remove the last stain from his seats with a generous application of cleaning agent, both Ril and him had dirtied the interior with both the hydraulic fluid, mud, ash and Ril's footsteps from when they first met, he didn't really know how he had allowed all this dirt to accumulate.

No matter now, he had finally cleaned the ship, and could return to do doing..not much..He was waiting for Ril to finish her shower before breaking into open space as he was still in orbit over Watson.

During that time he had looked up advice on things he needed to keep in mind when employing Quarians.

He had learned well after initiating some sort of duel with a Krogan that traditions and manners were things one needed to know about.

Three days had passed since they had met and he felt it appropriate to learn a little about her culture as well, that way he could guarantee he wouldn't offend her accidentally and could hold a conversation, it had absolutely nothing to do with impressing her. After more repairs(turns out just removing the damaged component doesn't work you need to _replace_ it.) the ship had finally become space worthy, though the two had ended up covered in hydraulic fluid yet again when Ril had accidentally severed the wrong pipe much to his amusement.

While the extranet didn't contain much information and the thread he had started on the popular 'Commune!' forum only yielded responses ranging from "Bolt down your valuables" and hundreds of pictures of supposedly suit-less Quarians.

He _had_ come into contact with one user who had supplied him with more than enough information about Quarian customs, She had been thankful and amazed when he recurred his tale of 'heroism' and 'kindness' (though he left the cowering in his ship bit out) and had even given him advice over what nutrient paste to buy!

Fredrick made a mental note to thank 'PurpleShotgun_SR2' for her assistance in the future, though with the unreliable Extra-net access he had it was a miracle he had stayed connected for as long as he had.

With a few gestures of his arm the haptic interface flickered back to life with that familiar orange gleam, he pushed the flight data to the side with a wide swipe and opened up an Extra-net session.

He grunted in disapproval, No interesting replies to the thread, just more pictures and cheeky replies, though the morbid monstrosities posted didn't much look like Quarians at all, one had five leering eyes but from what he'd seen of Ril she only had two and hers glowed white not that colour he could only describe as 'phlegm yellow', And this picture had a long curving nose that connected to it's chin, it looked absolutely ridiculous but Ril's mask was transparent enough for him to see, at times when the light was angled just right a small pert, maybe even cute nose.

Then again many things about her were cute, the way she sprawled out on the bunk like a big cat and the way she had rested her head on his chest. He switched back to the flight data and noticed to his great amusement that the shower Ril was taking had already consumed over half his water supply, though recyclers and condensation aggregates made it a trivial matter.

He wondered if they even had showers on the flotilla, maybe they didn't and she was enjoying it as best she could.

He chuckled and went back to studying data, _and_ trying to plan for the outrage Admin would no doubt have over his choice in co-pilot, though he was well aware of the terms he had signed up for and it wasn't like most of the colonists could distrust him anymore than they already did.

Ril groaned as she managed to finally get her legs unattached to each other, her thigh muscles flexed under the suit, the material stretched and finally gave up and released her legs with a loud *pop!*, the sticky hydraulic fluid and mud mixture that would make a great adhesive was almost completely washed away courtesy of the shower she was enjoying, immensely.

Fredrick had showered before her, she had insisted he go first since he was the captain and _he_ had insisted that she go first, when she asked why he had simply shrugged and said something about being polite.

Ril didn't know much about politeness, sure she had bowed and opened doors a few times but this was the first time _she_ was being the subject, It was...new and not entirely unpleasant though she tried to not enjoy the human's hospitality to much out of a sense of guilt, but Ril found it hard to ignore the wonderful warmness of the water trickling down her suit, It relaxed her, for but a moment she was home on the fleet in warm bliss, enjoying the comfort of familiar hallways.

But she noticed to her surprise that the fleet didn't seem very appealing now.

Before, when her little kiosk was demolished,when she was expelled from the citadel by an angry mob the fleet and the hope that she could one day return there had kept her going, but now, now she enjoyed herself for one of the first times since she opened that old shop Keelah she had laughed and giggled more than the last year combined! In only a few days!

As the water formed little streaks on her helmet, she realized all this was Fredrick's doing, he had singlehandedly turned her pilgrimage around! A smile started growing on her lips, it felt good to have a friend, Human or Quarian didn't matter once you thought about it, besides he looked _quite_ similar to quarian males..but with soft pink skin mounted on a strong frame instead of Quarian slenderness..and dull eyes that seemed to glow nonetheless, and that hair, she just wanted to run a hand through it!

What was she up to? Keelah thinking about the human like _that, _her family would no doubt disapprove. Maybe it had been too long since she used a certain suit function? Yes that was it, it had nothing to do with that perfect kind caring being in the compartment beyond the airlock.

She noticed a stain remained on her inner thigh, Her hands traveled down and started scrubbing with the brush Fredrick had lended her, the stain was easily removed, dissipating like a cloud of smoke on a clear sky, yet the brush remained on her thigh slowly moving upwards.

Those odd five fingers...

It took another half an hour before Ril finally left the shower, Fredrick noticed the way she swayed slightly and bumped into the edge of the bunk, he smiled, she had probably dozed off in the shower just like he often did .

"Enjoy the shower?" She nodded enthusiastically and sunk down in the seat next to him with a sigh sounding utterly relaxed, yeah she definitely dozed off he thought with a smile.

He could use some sleep too, running like a madman and the heat of the wreckage had made him tired not to mention three days of attempting to find out how to remove the dent from his broken pressure tube, he had solved the problem by scavenging a sledge hammer from the colony and forcibly removing the dent, though he had contemplated going to the wreckage and finding a new one at first but had heard sounds of working and didn't want to bother what probably was a recovery operation from the company.

Though he still didn't understand _why_ the ship had crashed, VI pilots were incredibly safe, maybe Ril knew? She had grown up on ships after all and she seemed to be clever.

"Ril?" She turned her head to face him, not lifting if from the seat. "you know why that ship crashed?"

She shrugged and shook her head in a silent"I have no idea."

"Maybe a meteorite? Or pirates?" He frowned as she spoke, pirates made sense, shooting drone freighters was common since they were armed with quite a few GARDIAN turrets, after they had crashed the pirates could loot the wreck safely at their own leisure, the fact that they carried a lot of cargo meant much would survive the crash.

Ril could be right, there was no way a meteorite had managed to penetrate both the barriers _and_ the GARDIAN batteries. But that meant the pirates must still be present, on Tirala no less, that recovery operation suddenly made much more sense.

It appeared Ril had come to the same conclusion "We need to go." she said in a remarkably calm voice.

Fredrick wasted no time in plotting a course, with shaky hands. But as he engaged the thrusters the screen lit up, at first he ignored it eagerly trying to get as far away from Watson as humanly and quarianly possible Pirates weren't known for their hospitality after all.

But the glow turned into angry red blinking and he spared a precious moment to look at it.

"Urgent comms request" it read, Fredrick hesitated, looked at Ril for some small bit of reassurance and pressed the interface to initiate the communication.

"Hello? This is Utility craft CADF-1138, who is this." The audio crackled, as if a microphone was hastily donned."

"This is an Alliance cruiser! Detail your craft's passenger count, cargo, destination and armament or we _will_ open fire!" The gravelly voice on the other end barked out with impressive fervor. Fredrick shuddered, a _cruiser_ could destroy him in a heart beat he better comply, but something wasn't right...he didn't know what but something was off.

"Identify yourself, you do not have authority here." It came to him quickly, this was the Terminus! the Alliance didn't have any authority here and why did it just call itself 'Alliance cruiser' and not by name.

There was a long pause, then the person at the other end spoke with that odd gravelly voice "Detail your passenger count, cargo, destination, and armament or I will reduce your ship to a cloud of space dust!"

He relented, whomever was speaking _could_ have the capacity to destroy him, he certainly didn't lack willpower and nothing could be gained by provoking him, at worst they could escape via the relay close by.

"This is a utility craft, we have no weaponry, we are heading for the relay and carry little cargo, there are just two of us on board." Ril leaned in after he was done talking and whispered "I don't like this Fredrick.." Then she added "I think he's a pirate Bosh'tet."

Fredrick nodded though he had no idea what a 'Bosh'tet' was but he was about to reply that he shared her suspicions when the 'Alliance cruiser' captain spoke up, apparently he had heard their conversation.

"Fredrick huh?, that sounds human" He chuckled, deep and unsettling"and I do believe I heard a Quarian too...hmm those _are_ rare..."He paused and continued, his voice firmer and more malicious. "Surrender your ship, and you will live."

Ril and Fredrick exchanged an uneasy glance, they both knew what would happen if they surrendered, this was obviously a pirate and that meant slavery or death.

Fredrick thought for a few seconds, his fingers trembling, then he made his decision and started plotting a new course.

"What are you doing?" Ril asked, she was scared and looked at him with pleading eyes, he was scared to and his voice reflected that. "I'm getting us out of here."He attempted to push as much bravado and firmness in his voice as possible, but he didn't feel anything other than mortified Ril nodded, grateful for his decision and patted him on the shoulder before settling down in her seat.. With a final tap to the interface Fredrick started charging the FTL-drive.

The pirate was of course well aware of his intentions, The Batarian intended to disable the small craft, but there was no way the projectile would hit before his quarry jumped away, his best option was to intercept them at their destination, The relay.

With a bright flash that was nearly drowned out by the blue glow from the relay did Fredrick, Ril and his ship cease FTL travel they had ony travelled for a minute or so but were still deeply unerved and nervous. He anxiously scanned their immediate surroundings with the onboard LADAR while Ril looked out a view-port, after he studied the appropriate screen and it'd outputs he exhaled loudly, the pirate was nowhere in sight and they were just a few relays from Horizon. Ril sighed in delight,

"Keelah..that was too close for comfort.." Fredrick couldn't help but agree, that was way too close. Ril said something but he didn't pay attention, there was a small silvery speck alongside the relay, he squinted and tried to make out what it was the LADAR wouldn't have picked it up thanks to the Relay's interference.

He shuddered as he realized what the object was, in front of them was a Turian frigate, complete with a black coating of paint and pieces of the 'Sandholm' trailing it with long cables attached, no doubt recovered from the crashsite.

"Give up, you are far more valuable alive.."

The pirate had apparently caught up with them and his voice boomed over the loudspeakers that Fredrick had yet to turn off, he froze, as a prey animal facing a predator, cornered.

Eventually he turned off the thrusters and sighed, it was over, they had lost..but at least this way they would be alive.

"What are you doing!" Ril yelled at him, her outburst sounded more sad than angry.

"I'm giving up..we don't have a chance.." He sighed again, there was nothing they could do.

No reply followed instead The frigate advanced, a docking tube revealed itself from underneath a hatch in the hull like a proboscis on a giant mosquito, soon the walls reverberated with the frigate's mass effect core interfering with their own, the tube started extending.

"Do something!" she shook in her seat "Please get us away from him!" Ril's sharp yell snapped him out of it, the tube was nearly connected, Ril looked at him with those little orbs of light, but they looked far from happy or surprised as they usually did, they looked terrified.

"I don't know how!" He had no idea, the irate would shoot them no matter what they did, if they styed in the ship they would no doubt be caught with a stun grenade.

Suddenly it clicked, like an ancient light bulb igniting, they were in front of a relay, almost parallel to it in fact, if he could just start up his engines they _might_ escape before the pirate could demolish them! And once out of the relay there would be no way the pirate could know what relay they connected to!

"What are you doing?" He furiously pressed more buttons and gestured to the interface, moving icons and coordinates, traveling and plotting a course through a relay was complicated.

"I'm not really sure." The plan had looked good in theory, problem was he had a frigate blocking the normal route and he was forced to plot his passage through the channel only used when there was lots of traffic coming through, The small ship trembled as the docking tube finally made contact, it wouldn't be long now.

"There!" he pushed the button as fast as he could, the thrusters engaged and burned the frigates hull, but they didn't move..at first, but when the relay 'grabbed' the small utility craft the docking tube was ripped out of it's socket, slammed into the rear of his truck with a resounding *clang!* until ripping the outer airlock's door off it's hinges. The sound was incredible and Fredrick released his choke hold on the dashboard to cover his ears, the ship shook and stumbled along the length of the relay like a drunken Volus as the pirate frigate rotated and reacted to it's prey's defiance,firing a GARDIAN laser burst at the truck just before they entered relay transit, melting one of the engines and causing the ship to careen into space trailing smoke and debris.

The laser-burst from the pirate vessel would have done far more damage since it's target lacked barriers of any kind, but the gravitic emissions from relay travel snapped the ship in half like paper,scattering debris into empty space and abruptly ending it's barrage, the emissions ripped the frigate's core out of it's hull with ease along with many of it's crew, finally the ship couldn't take more punishment and exolded in a bright red flash..

The last thing Fredrick remembered was a faint red glow that quickly faded into cool blue then the dashboard greeted his head and everything went dark.

**Okay, this was way longer than I planned for, I'm not that happy with it since in my mind there's this epic scene with lots of special effects and lasers but here it's just..pew, boom done.**

**So meh..but I just can't write action.**

**I don't know why people thought there were gonna be reapers, sory to disapoint but they will appear later.**

___**Samantha rose**___

**I'll be sure they get to play doctor sometime!****, thanks for the review!**

_****__**water**_

**I tried to keep that in mind in this chapter, I hope you approve, thanks for the review!**

**That goes for every reviewer!**

**Remember to review though! Reviews make me happy and motivates me to write (and feedback is always nice!)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Red, why was the sun red? Ril was puzzled, confused. The sun shouldn't be red right? And where was the sky? There was no sky, just..red..light and flickering..things...

She attempted to look around her surroundings, her mind felt foggy and slow like stale paste. Slowly her head started to clear as she began moving, the sun wasn't red, it was a light, a _red _light it felt like an incredible revelation that could change everything, her next revelation was her seating arrangement, her rear and thighs were trapped under the armrests of a chair while the rest of her leaned precariously over the edge.

With great exertion Ril managed to pull herself into a sitting position, extricating her legs was painful and she found herself out of breath. gently lowering herself to the floor she began ascertaining her injuries, going on autopilot while her mind was trying to come to terms with the situation.

Everything hurt, her head and hands ached and she barely managed to sit down on the cold plating without a gasp, she groaned as a particularly sore spot touched the frame of the chair that she had been -precariously- leaning on.

Ril attempted to compile every piece of information she had, her head swayed slightly left and right like an oceangoing vessel, she steadied it with a hand.

Right. Her mental checklist went to work, no suit breeches, no intrusions, no wounds, no broken limbs, she punctuated it with a flex of her long toes and fingers.

But something was missing, crew. She should check on the crew..of course there was just her and, she gasped in horror.

"Fredrick!"

Where was he! She raised her head quickly and peered around the compartment, attempting to stand on shaky legs that just didn't want to cooperate.

She spotted him slumped over the console, arms limp and with a large red stain underneath his head. _No no no_..she grabbed onto a console and used that as a crutch to keep upright staggering and stumbling over to her human friend, hastily grabbing onto his seat to prevent herself from falling, she eventually reached him after slow and meticulous clambering onto anything that could hold her upright, it was a gruesome sight to behold his head and neck just hung limply.

"Fredrick!" She shook him, no response except the blood stain under his head growing a little bigger, to her relief she noticed bubbles being blown in the puddle, that meant he was still alive, at least.

A shower of sparks landed on her visor and the ship bucked, making Ril stumble. The ship protested and groaned loudly she was forced to hold onto Fredrick's seat until it stilled, Ril didn't know much more than basics about star-ship operations, but the damage sustained was not something a ship could easily recover from.

Luckily she knew more than enough about humans to discern that he wasn't in mortal danger, though as she lifted him by the shoulders into an upright position his head fell backwards limply, it was unsettling to see him so numb, vulnerable she felt a sudden urge to ease his discomfort anyway she could.

He had helped her so She wanted to help him, how? She needed to wake him up, he wasn't a Quarian so there wasn't any risk he'd go feral on her, problem was she didn't know _how_ to wake him.

"Fredrick! Fredrick! Wake up!"

her rustling and frantic shaking didn't elicit any reaction and she stopped to ponder for a second, what should she do? The only option she could think of were either a bucket of cold water or so called 'smelling salts' that she had heard about but none of those were close by.

She dragged him out of his seat with a groan of exertion, and onto the floor with dull thud taking care not to let his head hit the hard metal surface.

The original idea was to place him in the bunk she had occupied for the last four days but there was no way Ril could manage to lift him, not to mention he still had half his suit on.

Before she let go of his head she nabbed a pillow from 'her' bunk and slipped it under his head before gently lowering it onto the soft surface.

Her hand lingered for a moment running it through his hair as she lifted it, if his head was an ancient Asari crystal vase it wouldn't have gotten a single atom knocked off.

She stood up and admired her handiwork, The human would no doubt be in pain when he awoke but lying down might alleviate his discomfort, But he still had a broken nose that was leaking blood, that wouldn't do Ril thought and turned around towards the little kitchenette and started rifling through the various cabinets and compartments looking for medical supplies.

She hesitantly placed a few canisters that looked promising on the counter including a jar of Medigel that was in a _red_ cabinet for some utterly incredulous reason, but as she was reading the various labels she heard a disgusting gurgling, choking sound. Her head twirled around in a flash to look at the human, he was choking on something!

With uncharacteristic speed she grabbed the canisters and knelt in front of the human, reached out and started inspecting his shoulders and chest, looking for the offending object blocking his airways.

After a few futile strokes and feeling around his front Ril slapped herself mentally, humans didn't have _Sayakt_ holes!

Instead she went to work on his face, mouth and nose, with slightly trembling fingers as he was turning a very uncomfortable shade of blue and she doubted that was a good thing.

Ril hesitated and looked around herself, this was getting scary, what if he died here? She didn't know how to fix a ship, would she just drift in empty space with naught but a corpse for company?,

But she knew how to fix people and that thought solidified her resolve as she pried his jaw open with gloved hands, peering inside.

Her gaze met with rows of dull teeth, and there! a large red object about half way down his throat, it was his tongue!

It blocked his lone remaining airway as his nose was still broken. Ril found it rather disconcerting how his body could kill him, then again Fredrick had a bigger head than her, and that entailed a bigger tongue.

She tilted his by now sickly blue head and saw his tongue fall from it's position.

And to her great relief he spluttered and coughed into the pillow,shaking, he was awakening at last and Ril couldn't help but sigh in relief, he was alright and everything was going to be okay.

"Argh...ahh.." he groaned into the pillow, leaving large red stains on it's soft white surface.

Ril attempted to comfort him with a few strokes to his shoulder, though he appeared disoriented, eyes not focusing and having trouble staying open.

"Fredrick..are you alright!" she held his head between her hands and attempted to gain his attention, looking right at him eventually, through great effort he was able to focus on her.

"I'm fine" He groaned loudly. "my head hurts.." his eyes looked at some other point above her that was seemingly moving.

"look at me, can you feel your limbs?"

"I ugh, yes." He wiggled his limbs weakly Ril nodded to herself in approval, he wasn't paralyzed, though still weak after his injuries.

"what happened?" His voice was odd, constricted she had almost forgotten about his broken nose that was bent at a very unsightly angle to the right "are you okay?"

"You saved us." seeing him scan her body with concern she added "I'm fine" and placed a hand on his shoulder, she watched his face form a groggy smile at that, her own smile grew as she moved her hand to hold his head steady which was still seemingly incapable of keeping focused on one point, a concussion.

He sighed in relief as Ril applied what little medigel she had scavenged, feeling it's soothing coolness numb his pain and making his mind a little less foggy than before.

"I wouldn't say save..we're kind of screwed" He chuckled and looked around himself as best he could, Ril still held his head , taking note of the still active controls that flickered on and off he frowned at the damage. Ril nodded somberly, she had made her decision and hadn't paid attention to what he said, it was for the best to get it over with.

Fredrick noticed her gaze softened as she started slowly caressing his face with soft glowed little three fingered hands. He was growing a little confused by that, but didn't really mind being stroked by an affectionate Quarian, but why was she caressing him like that?"

"I'm sorry for this" Ril said in a nervous manner, why was she sorry?

"sorry for wh..AGHH!" Ril twisted her hands around his nose as quick as she could, before he could react she pulled, hard. A loud crack echoed in the cabin as his nose was finally placed in it's correct position, though more sore than ever.

"RIL! WHAT THE HELL!" She recoiled as he shouted at her and cradled his nose, that wasn't crooked, Ril had fixed it!

He took a moment to collect himself, That hurt!..

"Sorry sorry, I just -Ow!-" He felt bad for yelling at her, she looked utterly terrified and had backed away a few steps, sure it had hurt but she had only been trying to help and had evidently been successful.

"It's okay, mother always said it hurt less when you're distracted, so I distracted you." It took a little while until she closed the distance and once again leaned over him."Though right after she said that I got a needle in my arm." She ended her tale with an amused chuckle

"Well it worked I give you that." he said with a crooked smile, his left side of his face was still very sore and bruised despite the Medigel, as it had been the first side to collide with the control-panel, it hurt to smile.

"Right, I'm glad I could help.."

Though seeing Ril awkwardly stand up and look for god knows what he thought, maybe pain was worth it and grinned, they had made it after all!

"What are you looking for?" Ril glanced back at him with those gorgeous _glowing_ eyes

"Anything I can use to clean your face, you're kind of...red." She trailed off awkwardly, lifting his hands from his face proved that he was indeed red, _very_ red. Though Ril ever helpful soon procured some paper towels for him to wipe his face with.

It stung a little as he haphazardly cleaned himself, when the paper left his face it was utterly filthy and his face hopefully less so, Ril however scoffed in disapproval and snatched another pair of towels from their holder and reached for him.

"What are you doing?"

"You can't see your face, I can." And with that she started cleaning him far more thoroughly than he had done.

It was awkward, though far from unpleasant as she seemed to have a knack for doing this without causing undue pain, though he must look rather comical with his cheeks being pushed up and down, But she was very gentle, even tender with every stroke, he felt a little guilty for enjoying it, she appeared determined to get every last little smudge off of him and studied his face intently looking for missing spots with her head tilted to the left, for a better view or that was what he assumed was the reason.

She made a few satisfied noises and finally relented with the piece of paper that was by now thoroughly soiled with blood and grime.

After disposing of the towel she sat herself beside him and looked around.

"So, now what?" she asked with worry tinging her tone, he had forced himself into a sitting position and had been looking at the completely ruined pillow.

"I don't know, I guess we need to fix the ship, but it's not exploding around us so that's a plus." Seeing her eyes widen at 'explode' he continued "don't worry we'll fix this."

Ril nodded at that, in truth she was astonished they weren't space dust already but she had had other concerns on her mind, like a certain human choking on his tongue in! Ha! It was a miracle humanity had survived this long if their own body could kill them! But she forced herself to keep in mind the fact that they were still far from out of harms way, and she should focus on what needed to be done, she still felt a little guilty for enjoying cleaning him up.

"Ril? Can you Help me up?" She nodded and reached out for him.

He groaned as Ril pulled him to a standing position, swaying slightly and having trouble staying on his feet Ril held his shoulders steady until he could get his bearings. she guided him to his seat with her hands on his shoulders, slowly coaxing him forward while she stayed behind him, occasionally adjusting for the human's stumbling, only when he was seated did she release him.

"Thanks for patching me up..and my nose.." Ril did a polite nod, his nose was still very sore but it was fortunate Ril was on board otherwise he'd have never summoned the courage to twist it back into shape Then again it was Ril who had fixed it, not him.

"It was the least I could do, you've helped _me_ so much so I helped _you_." He chuckled at Ril's modesty, she really undervalued herself.

Turning his head towards the control panels flickering in front of him he began attempting to decipher their information.

"Well let's see." His finger hovered over the orange plane of light like an indecisive insect, it was hard pressing the right button when the panel turned into three copies of itself, that rotated...

bloody concussion.

He forced himself to focus, squinting. And started running a full diagnostic, it was what he's supposed to do, right?

Fredrick felt a grim frown spread across his face, the information presented was disconcerting, port engine, destroyed, Starboard engine, heavily damaged.

Auxiliary landing thrusters 1-3, destroyed. Rear airlock bulkhead, missing? Hull damage in several locations, communications antenna, missing.

In any case it was a miracle the ship still had it's reactor and mass-effect core intact.

He sighed, this was going to be hard, repairs with just the on board supplies was out of the question, he'd have to salvage bits from the destroyed engine, if there was an engine left. And now they were just drifting debris, hurtling through space, he shuddered thinking about what could happen should they be sucked into a planet's gravity well.

Ril had apparently noticed his morose behavior, it didn't take long until he felt a dainty little hand squeeze his shoulder reassuringly.

"I haven't known you very long, but _I_ think you can do it." He placed his own hand on top of hers, why? He didn't really know it just felt _right_.

"Thanks Ril, I hope you're right." Somehow he knew she was smiling underneath that helmet of hers, he smiled too

"I know I am." They stayed silent for a long time after that, but neither of their hands made any attempt to move away.

**_Sayakt holes_****, ****_Pits of Sayakt_**

_lerg'sayakt_

**four thumb sized holes placed in pairs besides the neck,they are about 4 centimeters deep varying between individuals (The deepest recorded Sayakt pits belonged to 'Yrel'halna' who had 9 centimeters deep holes, he is still alive and serves as a conclave member, rumors still persist he stores excess sweets and candy in them, perpetrated by political rivals).****  
They extrude moisture when the body becomes too warm and thanks to evaporation functions as an efficient cooling system in warm climates as long as they remain uncovered, pre-exile clothing often included lighter fabrics above those holes and modern enviro suits have small probes extend into them to take care of excess moisture and dirt. **

**Sorry for the wait guys/gals, it's long and I've been forced to split this chapter in two to keep the length consistent, the next part will (hopefully) arrive in around 2-3 days.(I need to rewrite parts of it, otherwise I'd post them both immediately after each other.)**

**And a new word, how exciting! I always figured Quarians had to have some sort of cooling system 'built in' as Rannoch is really hot. (plus it adds a few fun ideas "Fredrick get your fingers out of my holes! No not****_ that _****hole!" Or a snot volcano/geyser after the first time she gets out of her suit...the possibilities..)**

**I hope you enjoyed and thanks for all the reviews! I really appreciate them!**

**I really do, so don't forget to review! I want to hear what you think! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Ril sighed as she watched the human switch into his suit of armor, complete with a helmet.

Of course it was just a civilian excursion suit, fragile and completely unarmored. But Ril liked to think about it as armor

They had 'held' hands for a long time, occasionally glancing at each other, Ril didn't know what to make of that.

She liked Fredrick, he was kind and caring, he often made jokes that made her smile and laugh, and he had been nice to her and didn't seem to care she was a Quarian.

She chuckled as he fumbled with his helmet, attempting to avoid touching his sore nose. He had recovered very well, she had insisted he rest in his bunk for an hour or two. But he couldn't summon the strength to climb up to his own bunk so he had to use the other one, he had insisted it was _her_ bunk but she still considered herself as a passenger.

She had been surprised when he grabbed the covers from his bunk and laid down on the floor. She had been upset, he was injured! and he was the captain! He should have the bed!

What he had said still made her smile, she had felt appreciated for the first time in years "You deserve it." was what he had said, those three simple words had spoken volumes about him, he didn't care about species! She wasn't a Quarian to him, she wasn't a 'suit rat' a thief, she was just anther person, judged only by her actions.

Her smile continued to grow, it was large and showed her fangs, it was the widest she had smiled since she left the Flotilla though with Fredrick around that record surely wouldn't last very long. She turned to face the rumpled blanket behind the bunk and next to the seats.

They had come to an agreement, he'd sleep on the floor but got to use both pillows and she'd used the lower bunk. And after a long time spent on ensuring the ship wouldn't explode as they recuperated. The two had laid In their respective bunk and floor, she had listened to him breath as he slept, just for mental notes on the state of his lungs of course.

His helmet finally sealed with a hiss of escaping air. And she forced herself out of her reverie as the familiar sound reached her hearing-membranes. She spotted Fredrick standing in front of the airlock, or what remained of it, he was filling one of the cargo compartments with various belongings and objects.

She knew why he was doing that, the airlock missed it's second door, to leave the ship they would be forced to depressurize the cabin and she supposed he didn't want to lose his possessions.

She decided to help him and rose from the bunk, he didn't have many objects still in the open but her gaze took notice of a few photos by the main screen, she walked over to them.

There were three photos, a young child and his mother sitting on a towel on a sandy beach under a setting sun, the same child with the mother and a male human , the child looked older and the male looked proud and regal clothed in a blue Alliance uniform, smiling in the sunshine of an alien planet, it was the mother's mate and Fredrick's father Ril realized..

The last picture depicted the child all grown up and alone with a few prefabs in the distance, it was Fredrick and this was his family, they looked happy on the pictures.

She decided to give them to him, she didn't want him to lose them in the vacuum of space, as she removed them she noticed something very odd, there were tiny little white cracks in the paint, she gasped in sudden realization that this was a _real_ photograph!

She ran her thumb along the edge of it, a real photograph! She didn't know people still used the old cameras but Fredrick had evidently been in possession of one some time.

With a slow pull she carefully removed the depictions from the wall taking care not to rip the fragile pieces of paper.

As she was about to deposit them into one of the vacuum sealed compartments Fredrick had left sealed an odd device already placed there came to her attention, it was fairly big with a lens at the front and a slit beneath the lens, colored black with white lines.

She picked the device up and examined it, running her fingers along it's edges taking care to avoid the various buttons at what she assumed was the top.

A filtered voice caused her to jump and nearly drop the device.

"Hey! You found my camera! I've been looking for that!"

"This is a camera?" She fingered the device, there was no power cell ports or any transmitters, how old was this thing!

"Yeah, here let me show you" Giving the camera to him she awaited any proof that the hunk of plastic was in fact a camera.

"Are you sure? It looks very...primitive." He chuckled and spoke in mock awe "well us primitive little humans aren't as advanced as the Quarian gods of technology!"

He studied a little gauge on the camera intently and Ril quickly moved between looking at him and the gauge repeatedly.

"Hey there's still film in this!" he grinned and proudly displayed the camera for her, Ril had no idea what 'Film' was but as she watched his grin grow she became increasingly worried.

He held the device up, lens facing her.

"Cheese!" A bright flash temporarily blinded her , visor not reacting quickly enough and her sensitive eyes relayed only fog to her brain. Ril blinked rapidly, when the haze cleared she saw the human flapping a little piece of paper around.

"What are you doing?" Ril asked while attempting to resist scratching her mask attempting to gain access to her still foggy eyes. Fredrick merely grinned and showed her the piece of paper.

It was her! Well a rather startled version of her but her nonetheless. She stood still for a moment, until he placed the photo into her hands with an amused "Here you go!" Then he turned around and sealed the compartment with the camera inside again.

Ril's lips formed a smile, the photo was a little blurry but he had given it to her, that was something very out of place, a gift!, and it made her almost forget the predicament they were in.

Fredrick hadn't and resumed checking his suit, Ril sighed and placed the photograph in one of her pockets, patting it gently before walking over to him.

"You ready?" She nodded and together they started the lengthy process of depressurizing the ship's insides, Ril noticed Fredrick was waving his arm back and forth, she chuckled inwardly, it seemed he didn't have much experience with a lack of air resistance.

Whatever little air remained inside escaped as Fredrick pried the door open, it's hinges struggled but eventually relented giving access to what had been the bathroom, now a ragged mess of wires and frayed metal.

Fredrick left the vessel first stepping down onto the floor, dislodging debris that looked like snow on a dark night.

Then Ril realized something, this wasn't a flotilla ship there would be no rescue if her mag-pads failed, he nightmares of her youth threatened to return. She hesitated, looking at Fredrick who by now was out on the flatbed and inspecting a particularly deep gouge in the plating.

She placed a foot on the cold hull, then another, _just walk..you have your suit..everything is safe Fredrick is here should anything happen._

The idea was no doubt amusing to the other person nearby, A Quarian afraid of space!

Another foot, Fredrick asked if she was alright but she merely nodded.

Eventually she found herself outside and they started doing the repair work, things looked up and Ril's fear was gradually evaporating.

Things didn't look so bad, the destroyed engine was partially melted but the reaction chambers could be salvaged just like a number of pipes.

As they were starting on the second engine, the one that would bring them to Fredrick's home and her new job she actually started enjoying herself, not in a small part due to the number of time their hands brushed against each other.

Working quickly they managed to remove the halfway melted reaction chamber which was discarded into space with a nonchalant throw, the pipes proved more challenging and needed both of their hands to be put into place.

They groaned in unison as they twisted the last fuel line out of it's socket, Ril strained her legs to gain enough leverage and with a final pull did the melted fuel line relent and popped off it's socket and into their hands. Ril sighed with relief, she noticed to her amusement Fredrick did a dramatic exhale, it was as hard for him as it was to her, well maybe a little harder, humans had weak legs, but he hadn't used his as leverage instead they were hooked under a piece of hull plating, that was strange, why did he do that?

"Fredrick?" He turned in her direction with his helmet looking at hers.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you have your feet like that?" She nodded her head in his feet's direction, he shrugged

"Don't really know, Guess I don't trust the mag-pads." Ril couldn't help but agree with a frown.

It took a long time until the engine had been repaired sufficiently, the pipes had been improperly installed and she and him had been forced to remove them over and over. Inside of her suit Ril was panting, Fredrick seemed to do so too, his chest moving up and down quickly zero-g labor was exhausting.

As they entered the ship and re-pressurized the compartment Ril sat down on the couch with a long and loud exhale.

Fredrick walked up behind her and took the pilot's seat.

"No rest yet Ril, I've got no idea about the repairs it's probably better if we get moving as soon as possible, you can sleep while we're in FTL-transit."

Ril sighed and stood up "Sorry." Fredrick chuckled "don't be, I'm tired too and can't wait to get home." then he added in a weary tone "This has been a bloody nightmare."

Ril nodded, things had been far more eventful than she anticipated.

They sat down without a word, he began inputting commands and she resigned herself to sit and watch, exhausted.

Everything happened in a flash after that, he pointed the ship in Horizon's direction activated the FTL drive everything had seemed fine, the soft blue light of FTL had illuminated the battered ship.

He had even pumped his fist in the air! But then the ship began to tremble, flashing red lights popped up from the interface and they were thrust out of FTL in a moments notice. The engine began to struggle and a tremendous explosion rocked the diminutive craft, sending stray gear flying across the cabin.

As the two righted themselves Ril wondered what had happened, she glanced at Fredrick who simply stared at the console and it's almost entirely red surface, mouth agape.

"What happened?"

He stuttered, and rose from his seat "the engine exploded" he replied in an eerily calm voice, dropping down to the floor he opened a hatch and began rummaging through it's content "Don't worry though I can fix it!"

Ril hesitated before she too rose from the seat. But the engine wasn't there..there was nothing left to fix.

How could he fix _that?_ An engine couldn't fit in that compartment.

They were going to die..oh ancestors, she and him were going to die! Starve and suffocate!

Fredrick punched the floor and yelled some human obscenity. But she didn't notice

They were going to die..

She could feel her eyes growing moist, they were going to die! Fredrick slowly as if in a daze walked forward and sat down in the lower bunk's still bare mattress.

"we're screwed." He choked out, Ril sat down besides him.

"Isn't there anything you can do?"

She held on to the faint hope that she had somehow missed something.

But seeing him put his head in his hands crushed that hope like a bug.

He sniffled, she joined him, everything had gone wrong! They were going to die! Never to see family or friends! The sniffling turned into outright sobbing. She reached out and grabbed his heaving body, they hugged tightly and fiercely, her cheeks were wet and her suit began scrubbing the liquid, her realk was wettened by his tears as both of them cried into each others shoulder.

He rubbed her back, she liked the feeling and responded in kind, she was going to die, but she wouldn't die alone, it was a small comfort even as the tears continued to flow. And the ship continued to hurl through space.

**Right this took way too long, stay tuned for the next chapter!**

**And review! I need feedback, I crave it..satiate my thirst for reviews dear reader.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Added because the transition between landing and flying through space was too sudden.**

Stiff, Fredrick felt stiff, like a stick.

It was cold and stuffy in the dark confines of the ship, his face was wet and sticky, crusty. He felt absolutely disgusting.

Groaning he attempted to rise from his bed, but a soft warm weight held him down, Ril, she had just like the other days curled up around him, her suit was slightly warm to the touch and necessary for him to keep relatively warm, he supposed this was the first time he had ever used an alien as an element, a cute alien but an alien nonetheless.

His cold feet made it known that her warmth was far from sufficient.

Turning his head from the softly snoozing quarian he looked up and out of one of the few view ports not yet white and almost opaque with frost.

It was still filled with the empty black void of space, small white pinpricks silently wheeled around outside as his ship lazily tumbled through space, but there was no sign of any salvation.

He had hoped, in vain, that they might crash on a planet, even pirates would be better than starving and freezing to death.

He sighed and turned his attention towards Ril again.

Her chest rose and fell slowly, up and down, faint light breaths could be heard from the various filters that constituted her mask.

Unbidden, one of his arms found itself curling around her body, holding her close.

He didn't put much thought as to why his arm had chosen Ril as it's resting place, he didn't think much at all, low oxygen content made him drowsy and tired, only moving to eat and to attempt in vain to fix some broken down component of his ship. But now he had learned there wasn't much point, the ship was far too damaged for that, he decided to just enjoy the close contact, no matter why it had begun.

His fingers absentmindedly began tracing circles in Ril's back, creasing the red cloth covering her body as he began thinking, looking at the roof but not seeing it.

Death, it was a little surprising, he never thought he'd die like this, the notion was ridiculous, what were the odds of him being asked to fetch some spare parts on a colony, said colony was bombed and evacuated, one resident remained and the only reason she had found him was because of Lars, a colleague, notoriously inept who had damaged the landing gear which attracted her, whereby they flew off in space only to be attacked and ultimately doomed by a pirate.

He had to stifle a grim chuckle, maybe it was the air or it was his brain malfunctioning but he didn't much care about whatever demise they might suffer.

He and her had been alternating between crying, panicking and yelling in frustration for the last three days, and now he only felt..weary, as if death should just_, get on with it._

He briefly entertained the idea of getting up from the bed but rapidly dismissed it, what was the point? Everything was broken, there was almost zero power left in the emergency batteries, even if he did manage to fix the various broken parts he still needed a new reactor, as it had been damaged during an attempt of his to fix the engine, again.

No, he'd stay in bed, under both a soft blanket and a warm quarian he was _very _comfortable.

Ril somehow seemed to detect his thoughts and began to stir, groaning and splaying her long slender legs out from under the blanket, her toes curled as she stretched her back with a satisfied groan.

Fredrick sheepishly removed his hand from her back and watched her raise her helmeted head, soon a pair of gleaming white eyes appeared inside of it, they regarded him curiously while she blinked the sleep away.

"good morning Ril.." weariness was apparent in his voice but he managed to summon a smile despite it.

"good morning.." she mumbled tiredly, then a slightly amused note appeared in her voice"what were you doing with my back?"

"I don't know..sorry I just.."

"Do it again, please." her voice wasn't accusatory nor angered, merely curious, he hesitated but his arm began moving reluctantly towards it's former resting place,

He felt her relax as his hand made contact with her jet black suit and resumed forming little circles. The moment he pressed down a little firmer on her back she sighed and seemed to gain more weight as she allowed herself to relax completely .

After a few moments spent in blissful silence Ril spoke again, now her voice had far less happiness in it.

"Did you hear anyone?" she was referring to the radio which she and him had set up to continuously broadcast an SOS signal, but space was big, and without the superluminal communications technology in the now melted communications mast, it was futile at best to even attempt it, but he and her had clung to the little device as a last little hope.

"no.." he sighed "no one."

Ril didn't say anything, to her the answer was as undesirable as it was expected.

"Hey I've got food for a week and I bet my helmet can last if I change the filters" he had apparently picked up on her subdued frown beneath the visor "We'll get rescued, trust me" he patted her shoulder, an awkward gesture as she was still on top of him but it was appreciated nonetheless.

Ril noticed a small sad smile form on her face, she was happy that someone so obviously distressed would attempt to make _her_ feel better, it was so alien to have someone place her well being in front of their own.

But it made her sad that she couldn't experience more of that wonderful sensation with the human lying beneath her.

How was he for real? Not only his personality wa warm she suddenly noticed his whole body was so deliciously warm, and soft, unlike her own hardened thick skin and body that lay beneath protective layer of layer of biotechnological wonders and composite coatings. Ril was determined to make the most of the few days she had left until she succumbed to starvation. She pressed herself closer to him and relished in the warmth, not the fake warmth of her suit but _real_ warmth from a living being, she was glad he didn't seem to mind her hugging him tight because it would take a little more than words to pry her off the oddly pink furnace.

Only a few weeks earlier she couldn't have dreamed being this close to an alien, and even as she allowed her suit to absorb the heat flowing from him she understood that not every alien was bad, but in her opinion the alien lying beneath her was no longer an alien, no that label wasn't suited for him.

A straight-legged companion? Many-fingered friend? Yes, that label worked she thought with a smile, friend... a _friend_ she was lying on top of.

But it was futile, she and him were eventually forced up and out of the comfortable bunk by their protesting stomachs and Ril was forced to let go of her new found mattress and pillow, for awhile.

He began rising first and Ril reluctantly let go, instantly she felt colder, the ship was dark and damp and her arms soon crossed over her chest in a futile attempt to keep the comforting warmth from leaving her suited body.

She saw in perfect vision how the human fumbled around the cabinets storing various foodstuffs, her night vision made it obvious where the various odds and ends were stored with great clarity, he didn't have that trait but his familiarity to his ship eased the search and soon he returned to the bed and placed the foodstuffs on the bedside table they had taken to eating by.

He presented her with a freshly warmed tube of self heating paste, it was one of the few that were left, Ril reluctantly accepted the object and attached it to her mask with shaky hands, Fredrick sat down next to her and began nursing his own emergency ration pack.

His fingers trembled as he watched her eat, those odd haired lines above his eyes were tilted, worry and fear practically radiated from him.

"What's the matter?" she asked and placed a hand on his shoulder, besides the ship and life support failing something else was clearly troubling him.

He pointed at the tube fastened to her helmet "There's only three left.." he said with a suddenly weak and nearly inaudible voice.

Ril found herself unable to breath, three?

She could easily manage just one a day but, five? She would die in a week. Maybe she could ration them, Half a tube a day?

No, that wouldn't work she'd just prolong the inevitable, at the cost of the pain and discomfort of hunger, starvation. Ril slumped further down into the mattress and sighed, long and hard.

The paste tasted a little better at least, it was a small relief but far from enough to restore her previous mood. A small sniffle from the left made her turn her helmeted head.

The human, he had his head turned away from her, she reached over and touched his shoulder.

"I'm sorry" he mumbled, making no attempt to face her.

"hey.." Ril pulled on his shoulder, she could feel her own eyes growing moist. After some hesitation he finally raised his head and faced her, looking a her with reddened eyes. "I know you're the on..." he gestured weakly to the still attached tube.

"I just" He inhaled wetly. "I didn't think." Ril had never seen a human cry before she had met him, it was remarkably similar to what she imagined quarian sobbing sounded like without the helmets, the only comparison she had. Just as she had done back on the tozzalk she responded the only way she knew how.

A hug, she brought the shaking human closer as she too felt tears begin to flow down her cheeks.

The irony was not lost on her, humans had often made her cry but now the tables were turned, but as another sob welled up inside her she realized going without crying completely would be preferable to, this..

The odd pair stayed tangled together for what felt like a long time, neither of them could see any way out of the broken vessel tumbling through space, Ril would've never hugged a human like she did, but she liked the human and it was a small, albeit not insignificant comfort to have at least some good company in your final moments.

"I don't want you to die Ril.." The human choked out, she felt him pull her closer and she responded in kind.

There wasn't much to say, they were at the end of their respective ropes, it wouldn't be long now.

A faint crackle, barely audible over their wailing reached Ril's ear holes, Ril doubted the sound was real, most likely wishful thinking, but the human was of a different opinion

She felt him move in her arms, he raised his head and turned towards the primitive communications device the two had set up.

He untangled himself from her embrace without a word, she watched in silence as he walked, almost reverently towards the device.

She followed,still silent s if the smallest noise could scare the mysterious crackle away. her now cold paste tube fell away from her mask, forgotten.

He hesitated before shaky fingers reached for the the headset.

"Hello?" he asked, quietly. No response came from the device.

"Hello! Is anyone there! We need help!" there was increasing desperation in his voice "Help! We're starving! Help us!"The radio merely crackled, as if mocking them, Fredrick slumped down on the floor, defeated.

Ril was about to join beside him when she heard the headset make a curious noise, the noise was soon replaced by a gruff voice, the reception was poor. But it was a person! Maybe they weren't doomed after all!

Ril didn't understand the words the man on the other side spoke, it was another human language and she had only English installed in her translator.

Fredrick seemed to understand however and grabbed the microphone in a hurry, nearly slipping on the floor as he raced for it.

He barked words in it, like a stream of water from a tank suddenly unplugged, her translator couldn't keep up with the flow as he yelled triumphantly and frantically into the diminutive device, small snippets was all she could make out but that was enough to set a massive grin on her face.

She was practically bouncing with glee as he finally discarded the device and turned towards her, a smile on his face.

He laughed and smiled, grinned showing his oddly dull teeth, She laughed too, the relief was almost palpable and she relished every second of it.

They threw themselves at each other, spinning around in triumph. Ril thought they must have looked ridiculous spinning around like children receiving their first suit, but as she saw a flash of a spaceship's white hull approaching through a view port she realized she didn't much care.

**So Chapter 12, I hoped this fleshed the whole derelict ship moment out sufficiently, I will edit the chapter names and such in the morning tomorrow.**

**Be advised there may be inconsistencies in chapter 12, but I'll take a look on them in the morning and rewrite parts of it if necessary, then it's datetime! I think... I'm a bit off track with the script but not enough to disrupt the story. So don't fret!**

**Anyways I'm sick (the reason this took so long,) so I need sleep!****review and favorite please!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Ril smiled as they walked along the grassy roads of Horizon, the sun was shining, the birds sang and Fredrick was close by.

They had survived, picked up by a colonial patrol drone, the ship had been recovered and sent to the colony along with it's two inhabitants.

They had spent most of the time hurtling through space curled up in each-others arms, at times they had tried watching a movie to lighten the mood but even then they rarely let go of each-other, the constant touch and warmth of another living being was the only comfort they had when death had seemed so certain, so absolute.

Four days, four days as space debris floating through the empty black void. they were lucky Fredrick had pointed the ship in the right direction, inertia took care of the rest. But it had been close, by the last day the dextro food was getting scarce and Ril had been forced to go hungry.

She had been afraid, Fredrick too, he had been afraid of dying alone, he told her that. Attempting to reassure him had been futile just as his attempts were, not that he didn't try she thought with a smile.

That day just like the others ended with them falling asleep, cradling the other, stroking their back, eyes moist, as they hoped they would survive another day.

A fond smile formed on her face, it felt like eons ago since they were trapped, the memories were already feeling hazy and had no sign of the fear in them, only the closeness of the human and the soft stroking motion of his hand.

One memory in particular stood out though, like a shining beacon of happiness to illuminate the despair that had reigned over them.

It was the second day, they had awoken with a head on each of their shoulders, as the day had passed, Fredrick had went out into space and had attempted to salvage more components from the two engines but with little success. He had returned from space, beaten and defeated and the mood inside the ship had been morose, they had eaten in silence and had retired to the bunk,only moving to turn off the lights that served as the only illumination in the broken down vessel and even that action felt slow and meaningless as she had watched him plod over to the switch, melancholy radiating from his form.

Fredrick had hesitated when he returned to the bunk, feeling guilty for being weak and worried, A peculiar concept Ril thought, just as she thought that day, he had attempted to sit up 'didn't want to intrude' he had explained somberly, she hadn't said a word as he started leaving but merely forced him down, as gently as she could, and murmured in his ear "You don't" then laid beside him,

They hadn't talked for a long while after that, until he suggested a vid.

They had both been having problems sleeping so the proposal was welcome, luckily Fredrick's Omnitool -unlike her's- still had power and he had, with her consent, began choosing entertainment for the night.

They had chosen a lighthearted comedy, to lighten their respective moods and taking their minds off the situation they were in. but there had been a problem.

No matter how Fredrick positioned his omnitool she was either unable to see the screeb or his arm had soon tired.

Ril had laid her head on his chest and draped the blanket over the two, for once ignoring the many social taboos and unspoken rules among her people.

She had just wanted to watch a vid with her...friend.

But the movie had been far from her focus.

It had been incredible laying like that, head on his chest, listening to his strong and steady heartbeat, he had tensed at first but soon he had relented to the idea and relaxed.

She had felt a hand reach up and stroke her arm slowly, holding her close absentmindedly, she noticed he knew what he was doing apparently, not too hard to hurt, but firm enough for her to feel the sensation as more than a ghost through her suit. She had reciprocated, stroking his other arm.

She was well aware Humans probably didn't treat their friends like that and neither did Quarians. But that was one of the few moments she had felt safe, happy during her now two year long pilgrimage so she hadn't really cared, besides as her mind quickly reminded, Ril and him were more than friends, or so she hoped.

She didn't want to delve into her feelings for the human, the fleet and her family disapproving was a powerful deterrent, it was complicated, it would be easier if he was just some dashing captain then she could explain it all away as a pointless crush, but no, Fredrick was an equal, more or less he had faults and fears, just like her, except of course he, was a Human.

But on the other hand she didn't care what species he was! All she knew was a wonderful alien was walking besides her! one who she had been offered a job by, he had helped her, joked with her, he had comforted and been comforted by her, he had stroked her back and had held her.

Ril could attempt to justify the holding and stroking as simple comfort in the face of impending doom, but not the amount of times their hands had brushed or been held even before the debacle with the engine and that bosh'tet pirate..

And to be honest she didn't want to justify it as something forced by fear of death.

But they had survived! Ril reminded herself of the fact again and again, she was alive! The thought would never cease to elicit an unseen grin on her face.

Awakened by the tremendous noise of a heavy docking clamp attaching itself to the little ship there had been little time to untangle themselves from each other, they had laughed in joy and hugged fiercely jumping with glee. She had even bumped his head with her visor but hadn't cared! They had survived!

And now they were here, on Horizon, Fredrick's home and her future workplace.

The gravel felt heavenly against her feet, occasionally she picked one of the pebbles up with her toes and deposited it somewhere else as she took another step.

Fredrick's home was beautiful, open skies, sunshine, it was warm and most importantly _a planet._

She glanced at him as he walked beside her, looking at those wonderful dull eyes, she had thought human eyes had looked lifeless and dead when she saw the first of their species.

But her time with Fredrick had changed that, his eyes were far from dead, she knew that, they radiated compassion and kindness, they looked a little like the sky, blue as they were.

He noticed her adoring gaze and smiled as he turned to face her.

"Wondering why my eyes don't glow?" he said with a chuckle and a smile.

She grinned beneath the visor "My eyes don't glow! they're just extremely reflective."

"Well they sure _reflect_ your _glowing_ personality!" He smirked at his pun, eliciting a delighted chuckle from Ril.

"Very funny Fredrick.." A massive grin grew on his lips suddenly, as if he had came up with something new. He began to speak, dramatically emphasizing the words. "I think it was..Real funny, _Ril'vanni_.." The human looked incredibly proud at his accomplishment, his grin flaring wider than before. Ril however had no idea what was going on.

"what?"

"Ril'vanni, real funny? Get it." She giggled, it was easy to forget the translators, though it was funny hearing the human talk in mock-exasperation.

"Oh I see. Let me tell you what_ I_ heard you say." she pushed one of the buttons on her helmet, sending a signal to her implanted translator to cease.

"Ril'vanni yr's ell tam'gud sag'u!."

"oh."

"krals.."She giggled again "Fredrick'miller merick ilmer!" her giggling turned into laughter as he looked on, utterly dumbfounded, eventually she composed herself, with great effort, and turned the translator on again.

"Very funny Ril" his grin turned into a smirk "what did you say anyway?"

"I called you a tree!" his eyebrows rose up further than before.

"I..am a tree?"

She nodded rapidly and had to quell another gout of laughter, placing a hand over her voice light.

"...why, am I a tree?"

"Because you are so tall, and straight-legged, though techincally the word means 'large vegetation'" she informed matter of factly

He chuckled and shrugged, continuing onwards, _Quarian humor was weird.._

It didn't take long until he heard Ril catch up to him, dainty feet walking on the gravel beside him. She walked with a spring in her step that he found incomprehensible, she had seemed tired before but something had cheered her up. He however was tired, he just wanted a warm bed and long nights sleep that wasn't interrupted by the ship groaning, not having to deal with the colony's administration.

Ril had been ecstatic when they had arrived, and while he shared the relief of being rescued there was something deeper that troubled him besides exhaustion.

He _liked_ Ril, he really did, and now he felt a little depressed that he would most likely never sleep with her lithe body clutching his again.

He had never really had much luck with women, and on this colony where many except his neighbors shunned him for getting his space-certification from the Alliance it was all to easy to find yourself alone.

Ril took another step besides him, his eyes occasionally meeting hers.

He was being ridiculous, she had only been as close because she was convinced they were going to die, he knew that, everyone would know that, he had been a glorified stuffed animal.

But he couldn't shake it, that feeling that she and him were more than friends..of course with his luck it probably meant Quarians were always that affectionate with their friends and there were no underlying feelings that had dictated her actions.

A bitter frown spread across his face, he really wanted to just sleep and forget about his new found attraction for the Quarian walking beside him.

Ril had noticed his morose behavior and asked what was wrong, he replied that he was just tired and had no enthusiasm regarding Admin and the inevitable confrontation that would follow after he told them about his ship.

Ril saw through it though and realized something else was bothering him.

But he made no sign of divulging it, Ril found herself growing worried, was he regretting offering her work? At this point Ril would gladly go without pay just to spend more time with him, but the previous joviality and happiness of the moment had evaporated into a dark noxious cloud of uncertainty and hesitation.

The sun didn't shine anymore, it was too bright and stung her eyes. the gravel was hard and uncomfortable. They continued the long walk to Admin which was seated at the far end of the colony and since his ship was undergoing repairs the two had been forced to walk, all the three kilometers.

She started dragging her feet after the third block of prefabs, her legs were aching and felt unsteady.

She glanced at the human, his odd straight legs served him well for he walked on and on in the same speed he always had.

But her legs were not adapted to endurance, she was a sprinter, like every Quarian and these long walks didn't sit well with her.

"Fredrick.." she panted and tugged on his arm, the usual neutral expression he wore turned into a concerned frown. "Slow down."

he nodded and stopped, looking at her with concern written on his face.

"What's wrong? She took a few deep breaths ans spoke, "Aren't we there soon, my legs hurt"

He glanced at her legs as she mentioned them, his gaze lingered momentarily on her body until he looked up in her eyes again, the fact that he obviously found her desirable sent a mysterious but not unpleasant warmth through her body.

"you sure you can't walk? We were supposed to be there withing the hour."

She nodded, her muscles felt like she had walked through every corridor back on the Tozzalk.

"sorry to hear that, but there's no time for rest admin is grumpy enough as it is.." He rubbed his chin and shrugged."I can carry you I guess."

"What!"

"Well we need to be on time, and you can't walk.."

She hesitated though the idea was far from unwelcome, finally she nodded and hoped inwardly she wasn't going to be the cause of a broken back.

Fredrick didn't seem to have such qualms and backed into her, grabbing the rear of her knees, she squirmed and had to stifle a laugh as his five fingers traveled across the ticklish spot, looking for a grip.

"Hold on tight!"

Ril squealed as the human suddenly rose up, swaying to side to side as his unusual burden frantically held onto his neck.

He stumbled across the road and nearly fell over a few times until Ril had settled, comfortable in being carried.

Fredrick too was starting to enjoy carrying Ril, she was deceptively heavy but it was a nice weight, comforting somehow, that and she was absolutely oblivious to the fact that he was wearing a t-shirt and that some parts of her anatomy protruded right into his back, He tried, and failed to suppress a grin.

They ignored the amused glances as the two strolled through town, eventually Ril placed her head on his shoulder and leaned into his cheek

"are Quarians usually this affectionate?" He asked and regretted it instantly, now she was going to pull away...

"no.." The tone of her voice surprised him, it wasn't appealed or shocked at what she was doing, instead it was..flirty.

He decided to test the waters, hoping with all his might Ril would respond favorably.

"I don't mind, at all, but..why?"

Ril replied in a small and hesitant voice, if she hadn't her head right next to his Fredrick doubted he would've heard her speak.

"Because I...I like you.."

He smiled, widely, the crowd of people that he was passing gave him curious looks 'Look! A Quarian on his back! Why is he grinning, is he high?' But Fredrick didn't much care.

"I like you too Ril, I like you very much."

He felt Ril squeeze harder with her hands, and the cold sensation of her voice light being pressed in the crease of his neck was far from unwelcome.

"I like you very much..."She said the sentence as if to taste it,"I like you very much too." Her tone made him smile, wider than before.

The arms squeezed tighter, and Ril pressed herself harder into his back with a satisfied little noise.

Fredrick thought two thoughts in his mind at that, _was she going to cut off oxygen at this rate?_ And _well that went better than expected._

Despite his exhausted state, Fredrick managed to widen his smile just a little bit more.

**Alright chapter 12! (EDIT:now 13 thanks to the expanded wreck scene in chapter 12)**

**Courier will be on a short pause as I gobble down lots of food and run about with Christmas spirit just radiating off me.**

**Thanks for the reviews! I know I might have missed sending thanks but know that they are very appreciated!**

**And that's it, feedback is always appreciated, also.**

**Merry Christmas!(and of course all the other eventual holidays during this season.)**


	14. Chapter 14:Christmas intermission

**Chapter 14: Christmas intermission**

**Post reaper war, high Haestrom orbit.**

Ril frowned when the satellite came into view, just like the others it was a scorched and partially melted depressingly grey little thing, it's shielding long since dead and utterly worthless to everyone.

But it was not the satellite she was worried about, outside of the small vessel a human with a bulky suit clambered around the probe, her mate.

She and him had bonded during their adventures together and she couldn't have been happier, well having him besides her and not in space would of course lift her demeanor to greater heights. But the satellite network needed repairing and replacements and she and him were forced to keep working to repair the damage from the reapers and their attempted extermination campaign. But she and him were just happy to be alive and together, plus the work was fun and there were perks to being just two people on a ship, her still itchy throat was a reminder of that.

He was taking rather long though, usually stripping a derelict satellite was at most a two hour job but he had been in space long enough for her to retreat into their ship, an enviro suit couldn't hold much air without a dedicated EVA kit, but he was still busy outside doing ancestors knew what.

After a long wait during which she decided the satellite network could very well wait she heard the little beep that signaled he wanted initiate a conversation on her dedicated channel to him

she watched, amused, as he floated headfirst towards the ship, trailing a pair of modules that were heavily scorched and charred.

The human she loved bumped the view-port with a gloved hand and pressed his helmet against it.

She imagined he had a grin plastered all over his face under the helmet, he could be rather silly at times, him acting as a boat when she learned how to swim came to mind.

"I'm almost done, can you check if we have room for a pair of thruster modules?" She nodded and briefly lingered by the window before moving off to check the small cargo area.

Rummaging through some odds and ends she managed to create enough room for the modules , barely.

Staying inside the cargo bay that doubled as an airlock she initiated the airlocks cycle, impatiently awaiting her mate.

As the door lowered Ril took notice of something _very _odd, there was a cord of sorts hanging from the roof, swaying in the vacuum, several bulbs of light dotted the surface, colorful and glowing in the shade of their ship.

What was going on?

The small cargo bay already cramped, greeted it's new inhabitants, a pair of large grey boxes with numerous pipes sticking out of them, with the screeching of metal grinding against metal, the modules barely fitted inside.

Fredrick soon entered the bay as well, his specialized and heavily insulated spacesuit sizzling from the extended exposure to Dholen, Haestrom's star.

"Are you alright?" She attempted to close the distance and hug him but the heat of his suit quickly. warded her off .

"I'm fine, a little warm though." He said with a joking tone,

Once air filled the bay once again he made no delays in removing his suit, with an audible sigh he discarded the lower part taking care not to touch the surface that was still warm and discarded it along the toppart with a grunt of disgust, he hated those suits, the heavy insulation made them unwieldy and stiff.

He exhaled loudly "That was hard!"

Ril hesitated before him, he smiled and opened his arms wide

"You know I don't mind you doing _that." _Ril took that as an affirmative and closed the distance quickly, embracing him and pressing her metal 'snout' in the crease of his neck.

While Ril's immune system wasn't still fully accustomed to him which ruled out any full body contact...for the most part..but she could still be exposed to him in short doses without any significant side effects, she enjoyed doing so immensely.

Her mask's internal filters opened up and immediately she was assaulted by the most wonderful scent, his scent. She buried her face in his neck and breathed in deeply.

He chuckled and rubbed her back as she began leaning into him, after a few seconds she removed herself from his neck awkwardly and slowly though neither individual showed signs of regret.

"Now, what's up with the lights on a string?" she asked, eager to know and to keep her nose's preferences out of the conversation.

He smirked and began fastening the 'new' components to the floor. "Well It was supposed to be a surprise.."

"why?"

"It's Christmas on Earth apparently, and since you surprised me with that "_at'storamangder'mat'_" feast I supposed I could surprise you with this!"

Ril blinked a few times, she had learned humans could be odd but aside from murdering khelish and it's correct pronunciation they apparently celebrated by stringing lights on their ships!?

"what is this..krisst-mas? And why have you strung up light cords on our ship?"

He chuckled and sat down in the comfortable pilot's seat, Ril joined up beside him, she looked adorable with that inquisitive look on her eyes.

"Well, usually you decorate your house, or a tree. But we have neither so I, used the ship.." Ril giggled at her human's sudden mock embarrassment, suddenly a playful smile appeared on his lips

"Or maybe we do have a tree?" He said coyly and reached sideways for one of the storage compartments, she heard him rummage through the various items inside and eventually he straightened up and held a curious object with obvious pride

It was a tiny little plant, plastic and covered in colorful debris.

He planted it with apparent reverence on the very top of the dashboard. She smiled beneath her mask, the little thing was homely somehow.

"But you still haven't explained _what Christmas_ is." He looked genuinely embarrassed at that.

"well it's all about some religious thingy, haven't really looked it up very much..most people use it as a way to be with friends and family, and exchange gifts."

"Gifts?"

"yep!"

Fredrick leaned towards the compartment again, only leaving her a grin as turned his head to once again pick through the content, only this time he rifled through the various debris more thoroughly, the little storage space was deep and held a lot of random items that were in the way.

After a few muffled rustles he placed another arm inside the compartment and began examining whatever lay inside a smile on his face as he glanced to and fro between the object and her seated form.

Ril looked on with a fond look as he started removing whatever he intended to be gift from the compartment.

She was surprised to hear a small almost silent sigh come from him.

After a few moments of apparent examination he dropped whatever he had been handling and turned his head towards her, he looked sad as he began to speak, is if he had failed her greatly, ashamed. "but I don't have anything for you, sorry." He looked genuinely remorseful and spoke quickly, eyes downcast as if bracing himself for punishment.

That didn't sit well with Ril so she laid on her side, head pointing towards Fredrick's lap then she arched her back to clear the control console in between them then she used her powerful thighs to push off the wall, she slid right into his lap.

"It's okay.." She pressed her head into his chest and sighed. "But why did you decorate the ship if you knew you didn't have a gift? You make it sound like that's a big deal for this krist-mas."

"well, I _had_ a gift.."

"what happened?" she asked, tone rising in pitch she was curious and slightly worried, _what_ had happened?

"It didn't survive the sterile field we used last week, I think"

"aww."

she smiled sweetly at the human, while it was concealed behind her visor he had explained long ago that her eyes narrowed when she smiled so she wasn't surprised when he in turn offered a smile in return, the sterile field was harsh on everything it touched especially the version used when they weren't inside the ship, she realized the compartment hadn't been properly sealed and the various vapors associated with a total sterilization had slipped inside.

"I appreciate the thought though, what was it? Not that it matters of course!"

He reached in the metal cavity and picked up a bright red cloth in one hand and two smaller objects, also cloth and red.

They were garments of some sort, knitted but both were scarred by the not so gentle sterilization process, large holes and ugly black blotches marred the cloth of the large garment.

She reached for them, Fredrick obliged and handed them over (as much as you can hand something over to someone already in your lap)

Ril was delighted to see the smaller gifts were relatively unscathed, they felt soft to the touch and she found herself wondering what they were for.

Then she noticed a little protrusion on the side and made a mental visor slap.

Fredrick was relieved Ril seemed happy with what he had given her, a pair of gloves and a sweater were the most appropriate gifts he could find on such a short notice, unless he wanted to give Ril some nutrient-paste, suit patches or a tube of sterilization gel which one of the Sa'geth had offered as it repeatedly 'winked' it's photoreceptor, something he found both disturbing and amusing, a curious combination of feelings indeed.

Removing himself from Sa'geth and innuendo he looked on as Ril seemed to struggle with something, swaying precariously in his lap at the brink of falling off until he steadied her with his hands.

Her own hands were occupied with her feet, and was that?

She sighed "I'm sorry Freddy, but these socks are the wrong size..."

His eyes widened, a massive grin formed on his face, she had indeed put the gloves on her feet and as he watched her third little toe move about inside the space a thumb would occupy he broke down in laughter.

Ril looked on as he attempted to catch his breath, her arms soon crossed over her chest, though the gesture lost some of it's meaning as she made no attempt to leave his lap.

"h-ha! Ha! They're, they're for your hands!" Ril sheepishly looked at her feet, halfway stuffed into the small cloth, a small wiggle of little Nirla(the third toe.) sent the sock on it's way to the floor.

"Well I didn't know that!" she muttered, he managed to stifle his laughter with a number of deep breaths.

"sorry, it just looked so funny!" the flustered look she gave him motivated him to add "and cute, very cute." Ril didn't relent with look and he worried she was actually upset "seriously I'm sorry, I laughed at you and that's not okay and it wil..hey!"

his carefully prepared lecture was cut short by the sound of Ril giggling, loudly.

"Ril!"

Now it was he who crossed his arms, or attempted to as he still had a shapely quarian in his lap, after repeated attempts he decide to let them rest along his sides as the quarian giggled hysterically eventually her laughter subsided, she exhaled loudly between persistent chuckling.

Turning her head she came face to face with her human, he had an amused smile on his lips.

She felt his arms circle her waist once again, she sank down into his embrace with a sigh content to leave planned teasing to the back of her mind and just enjoy relaxing.

She felt one of his hands start to rub her shoulder while the other rested on her stomach, she didn't mind a lopsided shoulder massage, much of her left shoulder and some of her upper torso was heavily cybernetic so she wouldn't feel much anyway.

But just as she was sinking down into a blissful calm a muffled "pop!" shattered her peaceful state.

The pair flinched, Fredrick did in particular, almost making her fall off (much to her chagrin) but she felt him relax quickly and she did too as she saw glittering flakes float past the view screen, the light cord wasn't capable of surviving in Dholen's rays for long.

The popping continued and the stream of colorful flakes increased in frequency.

Ril liked how it looked, they glimmered pleasantly in the harsh sun that was responsible for exploding them in the first place.

Fredrick resumed his affections and mumbled, astonished.

"well I hadn't expected a snowy Christmas, in space."

"And I didn't expect my stupid little human to cover our ship with pretty lights." She giggled and turned around, sitting face to face with him "lights that explode."

"They _pop,_ and I'm not stupid." a thoughtful glance at a sizable dent on the wall made him add "not very stupid.." she laughed at his sheepish tone.

"You're not stupid, you're _wonderful_" Fredrick cringed, he didn't fit that label at all in his opinion, Ril on the other hand...

_******(EDIT:now chapter 14 thanks to the expanded wreck scene in chapter 12)**_

_**Sa'geth**_

_**New servants**_

**after every geth, VI and AI inexplicably died, the quarians rebuilt the Geth, now with limited networking and a hardwired "do not kill organics" command to prevent a second uprising, while much of the galaxy view it as pointless hysteria on part of the quarian people many of them are relieved to finally feel safe around Geth that are now rendered utterly harmless.**

_**little Nirla**_

_**Nirla, Nirel, Niraa**_

**Part of the quarian creation myth, believed to be the first ancestors.**

**Nirel was the male that crawled out of a muddy puddle when the time was right and the stars were in position, what position that was has never been discerned but quarians being nocturnal often regarded stars as spiritual rather than physical objects so it may prove futile.**

**Niraa was the female, she emerged from a dark night with food in her hands which she gave to the starving Nirel, reflecting on the traditional female provider and male caretaker roles of quarian pairs.**

**Nirla was their child.**

**Now used as naming for toes, few know how that came to be but many families still perpetuate them as toe names, often engaging in play when the child starts developing more advanced motor control.**

**Ril regards that time fondly, and thanks to her time as a nurse where her colleagues jokingly refereed to broken toes as "Niraa has a concussion" the naming simply stuck.**

_**At'storamangder'mat**_

**A feast enacted at the end of winter, when most perishables had to be eaten by the ancient quarians as they would spoil and rot otherwise.**

**Now a part of the multitude of holidays and parties dedicated to keeping morale on the decrepit flotilla at acceptable levels and holding the early massive suicide levels when the flotilla was first formed at bay.**

**Infamous for the often large amounts of meatpaste and alcohol consumed which leads to drunken crewmen, it has gotten to the point that a new crew temporarily replaces the original one. **

**Ril and Fredrick spent the particular feast on the Tozzalk, Ril's birthship, their stay culminated in a bar fight and drunken intercrural in a storage compartment that they may or may not have left uncleaned.**

**Right a very late intermission, in truth this shouldn't have been posted at all but I've been hitting a snag, you see I think I might have rushed the resolution to both the whole shipwreck thing and their romantic involvement, lots more drama could've been incorporated but I missed that opportunity..**

**What do you guys think? I really need your opinions so leave a review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"What do you mean not covered! It was a bloody pirate!" Fredrick glared at the mechanic standing beside a bench covered in dirt and soot, Delan, the resident mechanic, was far from pleased at the glorified scrapheap he and Ril had arrived in, the foul mood seemingly radiating from the mechanic soon infected Fredrick's own demeanor.

"It's right there, article 8.45 in the handbook!"

The frown on his face grew as the mechanic began reciting line after line of regulations detailing how the pirate attack was a result of him lingering on Tirala, It had been made clear already that the damages was his own fault and he would have to pay for repairs.

The day had a few points of light though, Ril had successfully been employed as a co-pilot under him, something that had filled him with relief as he wasn't sure Admin would even want an alien in their midst let alone have one work there, of course it wasn't Admin's choice, it was an old standardized contract clause added right after the first contact war when no human wanted anything to do with aliens that let her work for him, for once the council had created a law that served it's purpose.

"Yes, but as I said before, systems egress would've taken just as long without an attack! I can't believe you don't understand that!"

"And I don't understand why you felt the need to _ram_! the pirate!"

"What! I didn't Ram anything!" He raised his voice, irritation permeating through every word.

"Then why is the entire rear utterly demolished!?"

"Because pirates aren't exactly osha compliant!"

The old mechanic sighed, as if talking to a particularly stubborn child, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It doesn't matter, the terms are clear and you _did_ linger at the planet there's no denying that."

Fredrick relented, he was right, if he hadn't investigated the crashed ship and taken the time to repair the landing gear none of this would have happened.

He frowned and hoped events could have transpired differently, a pointless exercise.

"But according to interstellar law and that council mandate you're obligated to help! If I hadn't you would no doubt complain about _that!"_

"I admit the laws are stupid but you need to follow them nonetheless, I'm not doing this out of malice, trust me, if it was up to me you and the _quarian_ would have your ride fixed up right now."

"But it's not up to you.."

The mechanic nodded, though he didn't seem very concerned.

"yeah."

"How much is this going to cost then?"

"I don't know until I've checked with the mechs and their reports but it's not looking good, 200.000 at least."

"Bet I can forget all that money I saved up huh."

"Pretty much."

Fredrick sighed, the ship he had planned on buying from the colony since he practically lived in it and extended prefab, could almost be seen, vanishing into a cloud of smoke.

"Well, shit."

The grizzled mechanic chuckled humorlessly, Fredrick assumed there wasn't much more he could do and began moving towards the door, a frown on his face. Without turning around to look at the man he said goodbye and left the cramped workshop and its dim lights.

Outside the sun was still shining and the birds still sang pleasantly in the warm air.

But he could still smell the faint stench of his ship and its steadily growing puddle of leaking fuel and coolant, a harsh and sharp scent.

That removed some of the enjoyment he could gain from such a beautiful day, that and the fact that his entire savings were essentially complete and utterly nullified just to cover the repairs.

And then he realized he would have to pay the recovery fee.

His already sizable frown grew larger as he grumbled and walked up the road towards his house that would _not _get the extension he had planned.

Fredrick would have appreciated it if the sun would stop it's overly cheerful warm light and make way for rain, that would fit his mood all the better, the sun being a massive ball of burning gas and plasma, naturally didn't listen..

Ril was worried, the couch couldn't seem to keep comfortable and she fidgeted constantly trying to find a better position to sit in.

After a few particularly vary looks from the colony's inhabitants Ril had decided to leave the mechanic for Fredrick to deal with, she didn't particularly want to leave but Fredrick had insisted he could handle himself and she had eventually given up protesting after the sixth person glared at her and put their hands over their pockets.

Admin had been more than enough for her, even if she had gained a place to work they had made no attempt to conceal the the fact that only reason she got it was because of the rules, no doubt would she be fired the moment they found an appropriate loophole.

And now she was alone in his house, she had almost forgotten how loneliness felt, after all 4 days in a ship with another person constantly in reach had made her feel attached to him and now when she was alone, with the walls seemingly pressing down on her, something felt very wrong.

It was almost nightmarish, the resemblance to the events surrounding Tirala's devastation.

She had been in a similar prefab, just like that one this one had a large screen and some books strewn about and both had several empty food canisters laying around on the table.

Her subconscious kept telling her to hide under the table, any minute another explosion might occur and she would be tossed around like a rag doll, Ril of course dismissed the thought as silly, she wasn't afraid of any thermonuclear explosions suddenly vaporizing the entire colony...flash burning people...setting the very air on fire.

She was being silly, this was a bigger colony than Tirala, well guarded, they even had mass accelerator cannons being installed!

Nothing would happen and at any moment Fredrick would walk inside and she'd return to that blissful state she had experienced for most of the day, week.

But no matter how much she craved it no handsome human with a T-shirt and half a rugged exosuit entered the little domicile with a smile on his face.

The only sound was the dull hum of ventilation apparatus and the constant sound of people moving about in their daily life.

People she had no intention of spending additional time with, maybe it had been the joy of being carried or hearing him speak so highly of her but no matter the reasons she hadn't noticed the looks she were given, at the time, looks she knew all too well, disapproving of her presence on _their _colony. She had seen them when she walked the road back to his home, not his ship but his house, how they scowled and frowned when they thought she didn't look, how they spoke and whispered when they thought her audio-receptors couldn't hear.

Ril curled up on the couch in a tighter ball than before, she felt utterly ridiculous, what was she doing here? She should be out getting a gift so she could escape all the looks and frowns and whispers! not getting involved with a human! A wonderful human but a human nonetheless!

She sighed morosely and attempted to press the thoughts of nuclear apocalypses and racism from her mind trying to focus on the pleasant things she had experienced, such as how pretty the birds were and how not every human had been angered by her presence.

Not him.

Maybe it was better than he thought? He didn't really need a bigger house as he spent most of his time in his ship repairing old generators and antennae on the countryside anyways, and he could start saving up for buying the ship at once, even with Ril's salary he should be able to gain enough to recuperate his losses in a few months.

Things were looking a little brighter at least but he still had to come to terms with the events of today.

Of course Fredrick had a new burden on his back by the time he had begun coming to terms with the first one,

Ril,

she needed food, and not just emergency rations, if they were in any way reminiscent of the rations he had eaten at times, disgusting was a description far too kind to describe the repulsive muck.

And to add to his problems Fredrick didn't know what to _do _with Ril, cuddling was as romantic as the two had gotten and he thought she deserved better, well she and him after flying through space some entertainment was in order, just something to bring them a little closer.

Maybe he should bring her to a date? They had said they liked each other and he supposed he should start acting like it, but how did you court a _quarian_? Humans he had at least a little experience with.

Not to mention where would he take her? Dinner? He sincerely doubted she'd enjoy watching him eat some delicious food while she had a tube of paste to shovel down her throat.

But it would take awhile for the scrapheap he flew about in to be fully repaired and that meant they had some time on their hands to do..something, a picnic perhaps?a good choice if he could acquire some better paste, or just a walk through the woods?

As he continued walking down the road he noticed some of his fellow colonists had a harder look on their face as he passed, why were they doing that? Frowning as if he had wronged them greatly.

He shrugged mentally, the inhabitants of his colony could be a grumpy bunch and he had no doubt ticked them of somehow, again.

Well he certainly wasn't going to ask them he thought as he made his way up the driveway for his little pre-fab, he could see footsteps in the gravel so Ril had no doubt found her way to the right place, that was good, he had no compunction of having to look for her and ask for help from the obviously irritated colonists "hey have you seen my alien? She's about this tall and likes hugs."

He chuckled quietly at the mental image as he reached for the green interface that would open the door.

What startled him most as he entered his little dwelling was how stale it smelled, he hadn't been here for a very long time, he sniffed several times, it was an almost moldy scent, it wouldn't surprise him, after all these pre-fabs were notorious for their poor quality.

As he extricated himself from his boots he heard faint footsteps from the living room and soon he stood face to face with Ril'vanni nar Tozzalk in all her glory.

"Hi Ril!"

But she didn't move, she looked..dejected and sad, this confused him greatly and a concerned frown grew wide on his lips.

" Ril? Whats the matter?" he reached out for her shoulder, to his relief she didn't resist or pull away.

What happened?

"Are you alright? What's wrong?" Ril didn't answer and her eyes didn't meet his. After a few moments she spoke in a quiet and disappointed voice.

"I'm stupid, I should have known not everyone is like you, I shouldn't be upset that people look at me like I'm a murderer." she sighed and hung her head, defeated.

"But you are upset."

she nodded and now her eyes rose to meet his, albeit slowly.

"You're not stupid Ril, come on lets sit on the couch."

Now he knew why people had glared at him, he hadn't noticed how much hate Ril seemed to attract until that same hate had been turned on him, And only when Ril had mentioned it.

They sat themselves on the couch, Ril and him ended up sharing a cushion, no matter how much sofa there was Ril seemed determined to sit right besides him. He didn't mind.

"Why didn't you say something? I had no idea people looked at you like that until they looked at _me_"

She gasped, her eyes widened. And started vigorously shaking her head.

"They did!, oh keelah no I nev.."

"Relax, They're always grumpy especially towards off-worlders such as ourselves." He rubbed her shoulder in an attempt to at least give her some comfort. "But that doesn't excuse their behavior towards you, I don't understand, you're a great person why are they so..."

"Racist? Aliens are stupid, plain and simple they think we will steal everything not welded down so they refuse us work so we have to steal!" Her breathing was quick and she gestured wildly in the air, when she saw his almost comically surprised look, She smiled slightly under her helmet and looked at his hand, she took hold of it and began examining his many fingers in complete silence focusing her eyes on the curious limb.

After what felt like years she spoke again in a wistful tone.

"except you.." she took his hand and placed it on her thigh, just to know he was there, then a sudden revelation popped up in her head,_ off-worlder._. "wait, you're not born here?"

He grinned, glad to hear some of her regular mood return.

"Nope, on an orbit to surface shuttle when mom was on her way home to Earth, she works on Arcturus station you see."

"Oh."

"I lived there until the crowds and lack of work made me go crazy, so I moved here."

"Don't you miss your family?"

"At times, they were really angry I moved here instead of joining the alliance so I doubt they miss me, how about you?"

"I do, when people stare at me.."

"I'm sorry to hear that." he said and squeezed her shoulder.

Ril nodded somberly, she still had this nagging feeling she wasn't supposed to be where she was, but just as it had happened before her store at the citadel was torched she felt the urge to return to the cramped and rusty fleet diminish.

She leaned into his shoulder with a sigh.

"I'm sorry to hear that too, but not every alien is like that." her voice was muffled by the fabric of his clothes.

"I know" he chuckled at her amused snort he provoked and pulled an arm around her waist, "I'm glad I met you Ril."

she merely nodded, still not sure what to do with her new found attraction to him but as she sank deeper into his side she realized she might as well enjoy it. The fleet could go on ahead without her for awhile...

**Right, new chapter! Next chapter will take a little while as I am working on an 11 and a half chapter that will expand upon their time on the ship as it flew about through space with nothing working, since that scene was lacking in length.**

**Also I've solved the story problems chapter 12 created so that's great!**

**And here's a little cut-scene from chapter 12, it was cut because it made the chapter far too rushed and didn't make sense as they had to go to Admin.**

**Anyhow before this scene were to take place Fredrick was supposed to wonder why Ril was so affectionate, why she stayed close even when they were safe.**

**Ril asks why he is all broody and he remains silent or waves her off, but she doesn't like that one bit and does this:**

She guided him to a small wooden bench, overlooking another part of the colony, they sat down in silence.

Both observing the colony, teeming with life.

He didn't make eye-contact and continued to look down at the small city. Ril was the first to act, he felt a small three-fingered dainty little hand touch his, it was at first merely resting there but soon moved to grasp his five fingers in her three.

"What's wrong?" she asked, in that sweet gentle voice, still holding his hand.

Fredrick wasn't really sure what to do, he _could_ just spill the beans, tell her he was quite fond of her and was worried she didn't feel the same.

But her hand grasping his made him need to know, otherwise there were some severe cultural misunderstandings going on.

"What does that mean?" he nodded his head to their hands and continued to spoke in a low subdued voice."for a Quarian."

Ril hesitated and withdrew her hand slowly, not sure what to say.

"I mean we're from different cultures, and hand holding may be seen differently for Quarians than for us Humans, not that there's a problem with that but.." Ril was still quiet and looked at him. _Great, Fredrick, you've done it again.._

She sighed, and started speaking, low and subdued.

"No, it's viewed pretty much the same.." she didn't meet his eyes, afraid he was gong to reject her now that the only potential excuse she had was vocalized.

"Okay" He noticed she was studying a stray pebble intently, turning it often to see each facet.

His heart was beating rapidly, and only increased in speed as he got an idea, it was bold, very bold, for him.

Sliding a little closer to Ril he had to suppress the urge to run away lest he ruin everything.

Ril noticed, and slowly, meekly slid a little closer to him as well until their hips touched. He felt relief, she hadn't ran away from him yet and that was a good thing.

She turned so her back was facing him, _everything was going so well_.. but instead of leaving with a few curt words she relaxed and lowered herself into his lap

and then there was some hardcore cuddling, like ARGH! I'M GOING TO RUB YOUR STOMACH IN A POSSESSIVE MANNER! YEAH! URGH! FEEL MY HAND TENDERLY TRACE CIRCLES IN YOUR TUMMY AS I LISTEN TO YOU BREATH!(that was in the script.)

_******(EDIT:now chapter 15 thanks to the expanded wreck scene in chapter 12)**_

**And here I realized I had written a lovely scene that might just give you diabetes with it's sweet pink fluffy WAFFiness but it didn't have much of a place in the story and it made everything too rushed, but I still kind of like it so I thought, meh why not put it here?**

**Anyways review and favorite and all that, it's mandatory.**

**Yep, I'll send the review enforcement agency on your ass, and they'll have retractable batons. Which they want to use.**

**On you. **

**Nah I'm just joking! (or am I, are ****_you_**** willing to take that chance?)**

**anyways in chapter 12 Ril rested her head on Fredrick's chest while they watched a movie, that was not my idea and I just realized I forgot to credit its mastermind "Silentpony." sorry.**

**Anyways he has a few nice stories and if you like Kasumi he has a nice romance fic going on that you can check out if you'd like.**

**EDIT: woops! silentpony has a really nice Tali/shep story called emergency induction port, it was "_Detective Maso_n" who had the Kasumi story, I mixed them up.**

**Woah these notes were long, oh well review etc. etc.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It had been five days since Ril and him had arrived at Horizon, he was astonished time had passed so fast, then again he hadn't had as much fun in a long time, Ril was an admirable companion and her constant presence made the days pass quickly.

But she wasn't with him today; he was walking alone across the dusty roads of Horizon.

Fredrick was on his way to the market, he had finally decided on what he and Ril would do for a date, a picnic was what he had chosen.

He smiled at the thought, somehow that smile had been particularly hard to wipe away and had been following him for most of the week.

He walked briskly towards the southern parts of the colony, where the majority of the businesses had decided to take root.

And he was lucky enough to live in close proximity to it making the walk rather short, convenient.

It acted as a sort of hub for the entire district, many people passed through there and even the small population of Horizon was packed dense enough that it made it hard to walk without bumping into someone.

He wondered whether Ril would have enjoyed it there, what she had told him of the flotilla made it seem cramped and crowded, just like the particular street he was on, but Ril wasn't accompanying him, the idea was to have the date as a surprise for her, well for a little while at least, so she had to stay at his house, he had awkwardly told her he was just going to see how the ship was doing.

When she had wanted to tag along he had been forced to explain that her presence in the shop would just serve to irritate the populace.

I retrospect he hated himself for saying it, but he couldn't figure out any other excuses, though her resigned sigh and lowered head had still made him wish there was something else he could've said.

Numerous scents reached his nose as he walked along the various stores and stands, on this busy street it was easy to forget he was on a colony far out in the Terminus, the masses of people, the food stands and the almost thundering sound of people talking and laughing about everyday life reminded him of life on Earth, the only thing missing was the many skyscrapers dotting the skyline and obscuring the sky.

He smiled at the thought, he missed Earth, even if he had been in a hurry to leave last time, though he wondered how Ril would react to a visit to Earth, he didn't know much about the quarian homeworld except the small snippets he had picked up from Ril but one thing he did know was that they didn't have it available to live on.

While the prospect of living in space looked very appealing to him, he realized it probably wasn't very fun in the long run.

He passed a bookstore during his thoughts, Fredrick's walking came to a sudden stop as he realized just what kind of store he had passed, maybe there was something worth buying in there?

He didn't recognize the store, it must have opened recently, he entered the pleasantly cool store, inside row after row of bookshelfs lined the floor, at the front there was a small prefabricated desk with a standardized kiosk module, like many stores it could be purchased from without any human interaction but a cashier still remained inside.

He paid her no mind and began browsing, Ril seemed to like books, he often caught her touching the few he had, apparently books were a rarity on the flotilla, he hoped to change that.

He forced the sinking realization that Ril would have to leave down deep into his throat and continued looking.

Then he spotted it, a large book, leaning on the shelf. He picked it up.

Large black letters on its cover proudly proclaimed its name.

_Birds, a complete guide._

While smaller text informed the reader that it covered every species from Palaven to Thessia.

He wondered if it included quarian birds, he was a little curious, especially whether or not they had those enchanting _glowing_ eyes.

Ril didn't know what to do as she looked at the messy table, her attempt to clean things up at least a little was coming to a close, she had piled the dirty plates in a neat pile on one end of the table, while the other scrap had been sorted according to color.

But she had no idea what to do with it, humans didn't make sense, this much paper could have been used for several baskets but there was no sign of anything created with all the waste material.

Was she supposed to throw it away? Reuse it?

That's what a quarian would do, but Fredrick wasn't a quarian.

She shrugged and decided to leave the table to find other ways to entertain herself.

Ril had been feeling antsy ever since he had left, a part of her felt elated, after all he had made it clear she shouldn't tag along, the reason he gave didn't make much sense since he had never objected to having her around, so Ril thought he was preparing something special, or so she hoped, the thought had crossed her mind that he might not enjoy her company anymore and that worried her.

And when she was worried, she paced.

Of course the small room didn't permit for pacing for long before she ran into a piece of furniture, so she tried to keep busy.

It wasn't just Fredrick's curious absence that bothered her, no, Ril had been plagued by nightmares ever since Tirala had been attacked, while the insidious dreams had begun to abate, especially when close to and held in the human's warm embrace, her memories of the event still plagued her, and the Colony outside, so reminiscent of Tirala didn't help.

Ril felt like something bad would happen at this colony, and she didn't like it one bit.

Fredrik smiled, he felt happy, and a little jittery, nervous.

He had managed to order food for Ril, and after much arguing with the supply chain and it's employees he had managed to secure a place for the food on the next transport, that was due the day after.

It had been expensive though, _very _expensive, not just the transport fees and... Encouragement but the food too the meals he had ordered were apparently worth it, he really hoped so because his chit felt rather empty between the repair of his ship and Ril's "Carnivore connoisseur plate"

But soon that would change, he would get some income again, Fredrick had taken the time to speak to Delan while in the warehouse arguing, the old mechanic had been there looking for some tool and Fredrick had taken the opportunity to ask for an update on his ship, apparently things had been going well and the ship would be repaired fully in just a few days, miraculous considering the damages wrought upon the small craft.

The book swung and spun around in it's bag, being bumped into by the many people walking the dusty streets, Fredrick held the bag a little closer, that was another thing for Ril, he didn't really know why he had bought it, Ril was used to not having much so a book was hardly necessary.

But, he thought with a small contemplative frown, maybe that's why he had done it? Because it wasn't necessary, because those he loved deserved, more.

Love? did he love Ril?

He considered it for some time, Fredrick didn't know much about love, he had had a few girlfriends, but nothing more serious than a fling, and not even that when it became known he was the son to an Alliance official.

But Ril, _Ril_ felt special somehow.

He couldn't really describe the feeling, tingly somehow.

He grinned, he must've sounded like a character in one of those romance novels his mother always left lying about, Fredrick continued walking, thinking, paying no mind to the colonists that regarded him with frowns and stares, the suit lover, the disgusting gas breather's friend.

As he passed a group of people eating the local cuisine he realized his own stomach could use something in it, besides the numerous butterflies that had apparently taken residence in it., he decided to enter the fast food joint he had been looking at, suddenly very hungry.

It was crowded, as was expected, he found himself shoved in a long line with equally hungry patrons waiting to be served.

Hot air blasted in from the outside, unlike the bookstore this establishment was far too hot, the customers were sweaty and hungry, a rather unpleasant combination he thought as he felt beads of moisture start to accumulate on his forehead.

He glanced across the row of holograms displaying the various foodstuffs and tried to decide what to order.

One of the patrons in front of him, a large burly man, glanced towards Fredrick; the man huffed in disgust and placed his hands in his pockets, keeping their contents secure.

Fredrick watched the man's hands, more out of reflex than anything else, he was busy trying to decide what condiments he wanted, and to try and stop drooling.

"Don't even think about it..." The man growled, turning halfway so his side faced him.

"What?" Fredrick was broken from his reverie "sorry, were you talking to me?"

The man turned to face him fully; it was a big man.

"Who the heck do you think I meant?" The man's eyes seemed to search for something "Keep your hands out of my pockets."

"What! Why would I want anything to do with your pockets?"

"You brought one of _those _here, of course you're interested in my pockets!"

"What's that supposed to mean!" The man pushed Fredrick with a hand, more of an assertion of dominance than an attempt to topple him.

"You know damn well what I mean! You brought a thief here! "Much of the restaurant had quieted down,

Fredrick didn't know what to say; unfortunately the man didn't allow him to at least attempt to defuse the situation and pushed him again, this time Fredrick pushed back.

"What the heck is your problem!?"

It didn't take long until their conversation escalated; the man threw a punch at Fredrick, hitting him in the shoulder. Fredrick reeled from the harsh blow, but managed to right himself and kicked the man in the leg, it wasn't a very hard kick, more of a coordinated stumble, the man didn't even seem to notice.

The rest of the restaurant did, and soon joined in.

It wasn't directed at only one person, the heat seemed to make the people jittery and irritated, blows were traded freely between the various patrons, Fredrick took some and dished out some, the large book he had been holding, Ril's book. Served as a shield, it was soon dented and stained.

A loud bang suddenly rang out from the outside, a blue flash lit up the restaurant.

A woman, in white and red armor, imposing, stood in the entrance. Her brown eyes perfectly described her opinion of the mess that the local restaurant had become.

"Alright! That's enough! Get out of here! All of you!" she roared

Fredrick and the others didn't protest, a woman in full combat gear with a rifle was more than enough to convince the grumbling bunch to leave, trading looks and glares as they went.

Ril laughed as another car exploded, the pieces scattered and bodies flew, The latest Blasto movie was..over the top to say the least, it was ridiculous, Ril usually didn't laugh at cars exploding.

Another Gout of laughter overwhelmed her, mass effect drives didn't work that way!

Her slender form was draped across the couch, her audio receptors were covered by a pillow and the other was far too occupied listening to the movie to hear Fredrick rip the door open.

"Ril?"

The asari cartwheeled out of the way, spectacular explosions seemed to follow her every move, blasto stayed close and covered her with a comically large machinegun spitting fire at the unseen assailants..

"Ril!"

Debris flew through the air, painstakingly rendered to cover the woman's nakedness, Ril was impressed, movies had came a long way since the relics they had on the flotilla, another merc exploded under blasto's barrage.

"Ril! Where are you!"

Her earholes, widened, she could have sworn that noise was from the movie! Ril sat up from the couch and looked towards the source of the sound, voice.

"Hello Fredr..."She chirped, then her jaw fell open at the sight that met her eyes, it was Fredrick sure enough, but something had happened, one of his eyes was surrounded by a deep blue patch, swollen, numerous bruises covered his face, nursing a wound on his arm he smiled sheepishly and held out a stained and bent collection of paper.

"I bought you a book." he held the mangled object up for her to see.

"Keelah'selai! Fredrick! What happened?"

"A fight at a restaurant." He groaned and used his uninjured arm to scratch his neck, a gesture Ril had come to learn signified embarrassment for humans.

"A fight! Why?"

"Yeah, well a guy was really, erm..." Ril raised an arm and touched a bruised cheek, not enough to hurt.

"What did they do to you…" she asked, breathless at the amount of damage her human had endured, _her human? _That was new, Ril didn't know what to make of that, not yet.

"It's not as bad as it looks" he insisted, but his swollen eye and slight limp made her doubt that.

" I'm just sad the book was ruined.." he finished "I doubt you can read it now.." He made it sound like he had failed her greatly; Ril didn't like that one bit.

"You didn't have to buy that! Come here..." She grabbed him and led the battered human towards the sofa, hopefully she could find some medigel or a few bandages. "But why did you fight!" she added "what could possibly be gained by fighting!"

"well" He rubbed his neck again Ril noted he didn't make eye-contact "A guy called you a thief, well he was a general asshole before that…" he hesitated. "And things sort of escalated from there."

"Aww, you didn't have to do that"

"well the guy didn't lea…" upon seeing Ril's adoring eyes looking at him Fredrick stopped talking, hearing her dig through her many pockets while leaning closer made him add "well, erm It wasn't a big deal, really." Not mentioning the fact he never wanted to fight in the first place.

Ril leaned her head on his shoulder while she applied the small medical patches she carried around on her person.

She heard him sigh and felt his body shift to accommodate her better, his body was pleasantly warm, it felt good, comforting somehow.

"Besides, you're worth it." He said say with that tone that always made her feel good, tingly somehow, Ril didn't reply, merely humming in appreciation and pressing herself into him.

"By the way are you free tomorrow? I, erm I have a question…" Ril thought his nervous stuttering was out of the ordinary, what could warrant such a thing?

"Yes…"

She tuned out as she applied the patches, forcibly at times, when the human flinched, one of his wounds was very tiny, yet he gasped as she applied a patch, humans were squeamish! Then a word suddenly caught her interest.

"What's a picnic?"

**There! Chapter done!**

**Sorry for the long delay, computer problems and real life has been unpleasant to say the least.**

**Anyhow, the medical patches I mentioned is what I image a future bandaid would be, with medigel and some other stuff already in one easy to apply package.**

**Sorry about the lack of Ril/Fredrick moments, but they aren't attached to each other's hips; luckily otherwise things would get very awkward in doorways.**

**I'll make it up for you in the next chapter though.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please review, I can't improve without reviews and I want to hear what you guys think about my writing and if you enjoyed the story so far.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"What's a picnic?"

Ril's sudden question took Fredrick by surprise

"Erm.. W-Well.." he hesitated "You go out… and well…" Ril looked on in amusement

"Go on, I don't bite.."

"Well, you go outside, and bring food sometimes a blanket..."

"Yes, and…"

"And you eat the food, A-And enjoy each others company, like a...date." He ended his sentence with almost palpable nervousness hanging in the air, like fog, much to Ril's amusement.

"And you want me to go on a _date _with you?"

"I-I. well, if you want..I mean.." She chuckled, grinned from behind her nearly opaque visor, a good thing as the sight of her sharp pointy teeth exposed would no doubt turn the battered human into a nervous wreck, not that it would be much different from his current state.

She chuckled, the idea she could fluster a human to such a degree was something Ril found immensely amusing.

But she too felt, odd, jittery somehow, a "date" was apparently a human equivalent to visiting the observation deck. Ril had thought about being invited or inviting someone to do so many times, but never would she have guessed a human would be the first for her.

Glancing at him, a small expectant smile on his face, Ril thought it over, she liked the human, but doing _this_would solidify their relationship, turning it from a fling to something…_else._

She broke eyecontact, looking at the table as she considered her options, maybe she was over thinking this? Maybe humans considered these "dates" differently and less significant.

A small nearly inaudible sigh caught her attention. The human, his smile was diminishing, though still on his lips, disappointed.

Ril looked at him, dull eyes downcast.

She smiled beside her mask as she looked at the human.

The notion that she could make a human, alien, so nervous felt odd, ludicrous even. But there he was, odd five fingered hands fiddling with their partner, cheeks red.

He _did _look kind of cute she mused.

"so..erm"

She nodded quickly, the cords at the back of her helmet rattled "Yes! I'd love to." A massive grin exploded on the human's face.

He laughed and smiled "Really! I thought you were going to say no." Ril couldn't help herself and jumped the poor human, an impressive feat as they were both seated.

She laughed and hugged him close, he smiled despite the deceptively heavy quarian sitting on some of his bruises.

"Keelah no! That sounds wonderful!" his already gleaming smile grew wider, Ril's eyes tilted under her mask, a small contended sigh left her helmet as she tightened her hug.

"When will we go on the pick-nick?"

"Tomorrow, as soon as I get the food"

"You- you bought food?

"Of course, it wouldn't be very fun if you had to eat that paste, while I don't, it doesn't look very tasty"

"You didn't have to do that, food for quarians, me, is expensive, you know that!"

"Of course I did, I wouldn't let my Girlfriend…" Fredrick snapped his mouth shut as soon as he realized what he said, but the word escaped his closing lips like a seal from a shark.

In vain he tried to force the word back with his mind.

Ril's suddenly large wide eyes made it known he had failed, spectacularly.

"Girlfriend?" she shifted "what does that mean?"

"Well, know it's not official or anything" He put his hands up in an attempt to curb whatever kind of alien fury he might have elicited from Ril "and I'm okay with th..

"Fredrick.."

"ok, it means, well…" Ril tilted her head, her eyes narrowed in what he had come to know as a smile, a grin, no doubt amused at his nervousity.

"Well, someone you're in a relationship with, a romantic one" He winced as Ril applied yet another of the orange patches, holding it firm as the adhesive worked.

"So I'm your girlfriend… what are you? My manfriend?"

Fredrick grinned, a grin that soon exploded into a loud chuckle. "no no I'm your _boyfriend_"

"But you're not a boy, you're a _man_"

"But we're the same age, in that case wouldn't you be my womanfriend?" the quarian chuckled and whacked his shoulder lightly "Shut up, that was a compliment!"

"Oh.."

"A very stupid man…" she pulled him closer and began squeezing his shoulders, an odd massage not entirely unpleasant. "But you're so soft and warm so that makes up for it"

"You think I'm stupid?"

"No..."

He smiled as the affectionate quarian groped at him like he was a big teddy bear, "you know, there are a few pillows and blankets in the closet over there"

She nodded against his chest, if she went any lower he would have a very hard time getting up.

"Want to watch a movie?" just enjoy the day, no pirates or anything."

"That sounds wonderful" he chuckled, her voice was muffled by his chest, she sounded really comfortable, he was too, Fredrick gave little thought about her comment regarding his alleged softness, quarians must have thick skin under those suits.

"Ril…"

"Yes Freddie…"

He paused, it was nice hearing her refer to him with a petname, the human smiled and patted her shoulders.

"I need to get the blankets and vid disc."

Ril reluctantly removed herself from him, Fredrick walked off to find a suitable vid, looking forward to the evening to come.

Ril yawned, luminous eyes fluttered open inside their prison, closing again, reluctant to remain exposed to light.

A strange hum reached her earholes, an insect.

Ril groaned as the large winged creature flew around the room, her sensitive audio sensors informed her it was flying in circles, loudly.

She could feel Fredrick's comforting warmth to her back, shesmiled and pressed herself further into the dozing human's embrace, after a long night they seemed to have dozed off in the sofa, not that the young quarian minded.

She yawned again, with a touch to her helmet she turned her audio receptors off with a click and went back to sleep, ignoring the abnormally large creature, and its expectant awaiting of the morning.

To the sound of her heartbeat Ril woke up, a side effect from the self-inflicted auditory isolation.

Her body slowly awoke, like a flower opening its petals for another day of sunlight, slender legs twitched and stretched in the morning sun.

She groaned and sighed in the sofa, enjoying its warmth and the soft cushions.

Her realk and boots were piled in a neat heap, she enjoyed not wearing them, usually the possibility of theft dissuaded the pilgrim from removing the garments, but she trusted Fredrick and she was not surprised to see the clothing still in their place, she chuckled at his reaction when she decided to remove them, after all he had that, bathrobe, though his poorly hidden lustful looks made it clear her attire was far more revealing, a thought that made several parts of her blush.

But the human still wasn't there, that surprised her, his warmth wasn't present., she activated her audio receptors again, she could hear fizzling and boiling sounds that came from the kitchen, that answered why he wasn't beside her.

A toothy smile appeared under her mask, what was her pink alien up to?

She hastily donned her suit's outer parts, the realk and boots slid on their respective mounting points with mechanical precision. Her red lower cloth struggled; scavenged as it were the crimson garment didn't quite fit and with its multitude of pockets it jutted out from her shapely thighs.

Rising from the surprisingly comfortable, soft, couch proved a hard task, Ril's body still heavy with sleep.

She stumbled toward the source of the sound, content with perhaps watching him, not necessarily tasting his cooking, just opening her filters to smell it, maybe hugging him from behind…

She heard more noises, not from cooking, alien noises, chitterling; her thoughts went to the bug she had seen.

Unbidden, Ril quickened her steps, another sound, loud and metallic, that wasn't an insect, there was someone, something inside.

Reaching the kitchen she came upon a grisly sight, several pots were over boiling, a foodbladder lay dropped on the floor, its contents long since burned to a crisp.

And in the center of the room stood Fredrick, several dead bugs and a stained frying pan surrounded his feet.

He didn't move, or acknowledged her presence, surrounding him were a pair of, monsters, one lying still on the ground, coffin of some sort, the other hissing its strange language as it grabbed and groped for Fredrick's eerily glowing body, gunfire could be heard in the distance.

Ril shuddered, a cold shiver ran down her back as the four eyed monstrosity glanced at her, its malevolent gaze traveled over her body, through her, as if she wasn't there.

Ril hid behind a wall, her chest rising and falling quickly.

What were those things! What were they doing!

Fog began building up inside her helmet, her claws poked out from their sheaths only to collide with her suit.

Her body shook as she decided to take another peek, the material on her fingertips stretched and relaxed as the blades within attempted to escape.

The monster, insect ignored her, it was busy stuffing Fredrick's stiff body into the second alien, a pod of sorts.

It was curious to see, almost robotic in its purpose.

She inched towards it, breath quick, each step she took was slow and silent, three toes gently walking on the cool floor, silent.

She was behind the alien, it was busy working a limp leg inside the pod.

Ril didn't yell or roar at the alien, afraid if she would somehow attract its wrath.

She saw his discarded cooking implement; Her suit groaned as she bent down, taught material not fully warmed strained and pulled as the lithe quarian reached for the pan, an odd burned yellow mass fell away as she grabbed it, she didn't notice it, her gaze firmly set on the creature..

Thick fingers trembled almost uncontrollably as she forced her body forward, each step labored, her filters worked hard to supply air for her quick breathing, musculature tensing in preparation.

She couldn't let the alien continue, Fredrick's body was almost fully hidden by the pod's moist embrace.

Despite her mind's feverish screams and her trembling, Ril moved on, whatever fate the disgusting brown monster had planned for her Fredrick, Ril was determined to stop it.

She was almost right behind the alien, it hadn't noticed her, or maybe it didn't care, the small quarian deemed insignificant and harmless.

It appeared unarmed and utterly focused on its task, robotic, a machine.

Ril was close enough to almost _feel _the alien, a faint hum emanated from its carapace, hard and pointed.

She raised the frying pan with shaky arms.

Then she forced it down onto the abominations head with as much force she could muster.

A loud crack echoed through the room, the heavy iron pan penetrated the insect's cranial shell, rendering the contents into a pulpy mess.

Ril screamed and lifted the pan up, in preparation for another strike; her target twitched and shook in a steadily growing puddle of gore.

Again and again Ril'vanni unleashed hysterical rage on the battered creature, spongy tissue and advanced implants flew through the air as she hacked away at the creature while screaming in rage and fear, why didn't it stop moving!

It felt like hours until her tired arms stopped pummeling the alien, it was dead, its head almost obliterated into a squishy mess of gore and cybernetics, the body lay still and silent.

Ril suddenly came to a chilling realization, Fredrick! She crawled over the insect's corpse, not caring that its foul ichor stained her suit.

"Fredrick!" she scrambled atop the pod, he was inside it but the insect hadn't closed the beaklike lid, she reached for him, the odd yellow field that had surrounded him seemed to have dissisipated, his head hung limply from his neck.

"Wake up!" she grabbed hold of his head with trembling hands, stained with blood.

Through the haze she saw his eyes fixtate on her, wide and scared, terrified.

"please wake up!" she pleaded to the limp human, covered in moisture from the pod, he didn't react, his breathing abnormally steady and body relaxed, morbidly so.

"Fredrick!"

As she labored to drag him out of the grotesque pod, the only sign he was still conscious was the dull white eyes, wide and piercing staring into her own, desperate and utterly mortified.

Ril collapsed beside the catatonic human, he didn't make a sound, her labored breathing consumed the entirety of her helmet's interior.

Her heart thundered in her head, reluctantly slowing down.

She turned her head towards her human companion, his own head lay on its side, drool pooled out of his open mouth, scared white orbs scanning the interior with desperate fervor. Under the blanket of sound distant gunfire created Ril reached for his head and cupped a cheek, his eyes whirled around instantly to look at her, a hand twitched.

An explosion shook the building, a blue flash. As The heavy point defense cannons close by began their steady charge against opponents unseen.

"It'll be okay." she soothed and rubbed the human's cheek, pulling him closer with her free hand.

And as another salvo shook the house, Ril could only hope she was right.

**There, I hope you liked it, sorry for the cliffhanger! **

**Regarding the insect in the night, I've always imagined the collectors collections being aided by more than one ship, in Horizons case, fighter like pods launched after the communications blackout carry bugs that hide and saturate the area, to paralyze everyone instantly instead of having to take time traveling from the mothership to every corner of the planet (I got the impression Horizon was a very big colony) leaving time for people getting into shelters and delaying the harvest.**

**And making the collections quick and efficient, the pods then leave the planet via automated flight VIs so they may dock with the mother ship and be "reloaded" if necessary.**

**And then the collectors systematically collect everyone, since Horizon is a big colony some parts were only allotted a few drones (unlike Freedoms progress where drones where everywhere.) combine that with Shepard's team forcing drones away from harvesting duties to attempt to kill him and then you have lone workers instead of them working in pairs.**

**Also why are there so few reviews?**

**Did I mess something up so bad that the readers didn't want to review?**

**I mean I've got quite a few followers! (thanks for that) but the regular three reviews per chapter has been diminishing, what caused the loss of interest?**

**Please write what you think if you read this story, it doesn't take that long and just a few words help, if you enjoyed reading this story it's the least you can do.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Warning, this chapter contains the F-word, and is M-rated because of it...**

**If you value your morals, turn back now, this word is scary(I'm joking of course, don't turn back)**

**8 hours earlier**

"Woah! John! what the hell happened?" Rick watched his friend and coworker stumble inside, a bruise covering much of his face.

"it's nothing.." the old man grumped and sat down, his chair creaking " I just want to get this over with"

"Dude, you know I won't tell anyone, remember that monitor?"

The man considered it, halfheartedly operating the various instruments and the day's scanning schedule as he thought.

"Fine, it was a bar fight, some idiot bought one of _those _here."

"Oh, a suit I suppose."

John nodded, taking his eyes of the screen.

"Well what happened? You didn't just jump him did ya, or was it a she?"

The silence following the radar operator's question spoke volumes.

"You did…"

"Yeah.."

Rick chuckled, his feet stomping the floor.

"Well, this time I can't see the problem, you should look yourself in the mirror!"

The older man laughed, and groaned as a sore spot made itself known, his chair squeaked and wiggled.

"But seriously, you can't just start a fight with someone! I'm surprised Admin hasn't been on your ass for this."

"Yeah, they probably will be soon enough." Rick patted his friend on the back "don't worry, it'll be alright, hey why's that console beeping?"

His comrade chuckled and dismissed him with a gesture

"That console? The alliance dolts didn't calibrate the radar array properly; it's just some clouds or a bunch of those bird-things we've been seeing, the ones that migrate."

"Oh, well I suppose work just got that much less productive today, not that I'm complaining." He chuckled, again, turning his head from the flashing screen and the very fast clouds

"And by the way, did you tell your wife about what happened?"

"Yeah, she's keeping her ring close now; don't want no repeat of our trip to the Citadel, sneaky fuckers"

"Alright alright, no need to bring up bad memories, let's see what's up with Dave okay, I think he said he was a medic once, you need that bruise checked up"

"Alright, if you insist…"

The duo left the control room, leaving the chairs warm and the screens and their warnings, ignored.

**Present**

Every nerve in Fredrick's body ached; he tried to move, fruitlessly.

His vision swam, his stomach churned, a presence held him down.

He couldn't move, the sting on his neck ached and itched, not so much as a twitch managed to get past the barrier between him and his limbs, his breathing would have been quick and labored if not for the _thing_ that breathed for him, he felt violated, something had taken control of his body's functions, he wanted to be afraid, to sweat and hyperventilate, tremble and scream.

But instead his body was limp, steady _calm _breathing dominated and overrode any directions he gave to his lungs.

Fredrick was faintly aware he was being moved, grabbed, by something, harsh and hard.

But he couldn't focus; his mind was muddled and suppressed, the block felt, sweet, decadent and disgustingly so, sickly.

His ears registered screaming and crunching sounds, the signals didn't make it to his brain, his eyesight was blurred, the voice sounded familiar somehow, a red flash in the corner of his vision.

Fredrick suddenly realized he was falling.

The feeling was faint, he was acutely aware he was going to hurt himself as he landed, but he couldn't act, he couldn't think clearly, his mind surrounded by wet cotton.

A muffled boom stirred him from his near catatonic state, another soon followed, the blue flash stung his eyes and he labored to force disobedient eyelids to close.

Another flash burned, the dwelling shook as a heavy accelerator cannon fired a desperate final blast, he became aware something firm and warm was pressed to his almost entirely numb side, the object was out of his sight, he couldn't turn his head, it smelled like plastic and leather.

A thunderous roar broke the relative silence, the massive wave of sound reached his ears quickly and brutally, its source far away the sound still managed to make him cry out in pain internally, mouth not obeying.

Small hands grabbed at his ears, holding them shut.

He was thankful for the object, a creature? To spare his hearing, in his state, silent appreciation was all he could manage, barely even that.

It all seemed to fade, the muffled storm, the pulsating numbness; his swimming vision coalesced into disorientation on a whole new scale. Fredrick wanted to vomit, he couldn't do so, losing control of his body was maddening, breath remaining perfectly steady, he realized he was panicking in an oddly calm way, no adrenaline was released, no quick breathing.

Gradually he began losing his grip on what was happening; only the feeling of his body pressed against another's keeping him coherent and even that sensation soon faded into a paralyzing muck.

Outside of the prefab the cannons began venting excess heat, compressed steam scorching the patch of land in front of the emplaced weapon as they ceased their barrage, A group of figures nearby, tall and brown got their head and the heads of their companions perforated by the many security mechs swarming the colony, back online after the ship and its jamming apparatus had debarked, fled.

The sun was once again shining on the lone colony, but aside from the sound of mechs gradually wearing down the few leaderless aliens it was silent, deserted, no birds sang.

If the colony was alive, it would be sighing.

A lone glistening star, a shuttle, flew back and forth from the sky, every time it landed it released a group of people from its hold, humans and aliens, some adorned with emblems and clean armoured uniforms supposedly belonging to a prestigious company, _Cord Hislop_, the others, the nonhumans, wore armour of many different varieties, heavy plating slammed across the dusty roads.

They split up with practiced ease, carrying medical kits and rifles, wherever they entered, they left to the sound of screaming and crying where before there was only silence.

It was a grim sight.

Ril'Vanni smiled inside her helmet, the human wrapped in a blanket laying beside her looked like she imagined an infant would.

His eyes had seemed to calm down, momentarily; instead of fear and terror etched onto them they merely scanned the room lazily and floated around groggily, not seeing clearly, she wasn't sure if they even did see.

At the moment they were focused at her, dull opaque blue on luminous white.

A still trembling hand held his head steady, to prevent it from jostling, occasionally she anxiously raised her head to peek out through a window, scanning, watching for more of the aliens.

Not the pleasant kind, the pink smooth ones, but the big tall imposing brown ones responsible for the catatonic human, and the reason she held her frying pan with a death grip in her other hand.

She tried not to look at the corpse of the brown monstrosity _she _killed, murdered.

Ril'vanni was a generally gentle soul, one who liked watching birds and relaxing with her pink alien of choice, but at that very moment after she had regained focus she realized that she didn't regret killing the monster.

There was no feelings of disgust directed at anything except for the creature itself, it had been the right thing to do, she not only thought it, but felt like it.

She didn't know what to think, her mother, a neurosurgeon, was adamant that all life was precious and special in their own ways.

But the young pilgrim couldn't muster up any feelings other than hate for the creature, it wasn't special, was killing was wrong?

Her father had killed people, pirates looking to abduct her mother when Ril was still inside her, he had used a multitool to stab them to death, maybe she should call him for help

She shrugged internally, this wasn't the time for a moral crisis.

As the quarian focused once more on attempting to calm her nerves, she heard voices filter through the window, human ones, Ril perked up, taking her attention from the wrapped up human and staring, glaring at the window above.

Pirates? Scavengers? _Survivors?_

Ril'vanni rose onto her feet, tightening her hold on the dented cooking implement, she'd use it if she had to.

"Hello?" she asked, hesitantly, barely audible.

On unsteady legs she departed from the human with a worried glance, he didn't respond, of course.

The view from the window was, depressing to say the least, she peeked out from a corner for a closer look.

There was a crater, a massive field of burning grass far away, plumes of smoke matted the pristine blue sky.

Something had landed, and had left, the sight was similar to the marks left by the heavy landing thrusters of the lone cargo lander of the flotilla, the _lzzz'yk_.

But there was no sign of the voices, she didn't dare look for them, she couldn't leave Fredrick alone, she glanced over to him again, not like this.

The door suddenly flew open with a hydraulic hiss and the sound of straining servos, emergency override.

Ril flew around to face the hallway but before she could even react she found herself facing a pair of rifles pointing at her.

"Put them down, she's harmless" a rich female voice commanded quickly, the owner of it had appeared in the doorway, behind her lackeys.

She glanced at the frying pan stained with alien ichor, her blue eyes scanned her with clinical precision, and slight amusement.

"Don't worry miss, we're here to help." The line felt well practiced to Ril's ears, recited and far from genuine, and there was something about the emblem the woman in white wore on her chest.

"Who are you, what do you want? What happened?"

"That's irrelevant, we have a timeframe to keep, is there a _human_ in here?"

Ril hesitated, something was off about the woman, that emblem was familiar, somehow, something about an

"Well?"

The pilgrim nodded, brought out from her reverie, she led the trio towards Fredrick's limp body.

"What do you want from him? Can you help him?" she placed her body infront of the tenderly wrapped blanket and the human within, a barrier between the trio of strangers.

Ril saw the leader let slip a small amused smile as she watched her block access to the human wrapped up like a baby behind her.

"It's what we came here to do, step aside miss."

Ril obeyed hesitantly, something about this woman made the pilgrim apprehensive, but she'd take the help she was offering.

The woman in her tight white uniform knelt down beside the prone human, in absence of a suit of armours remote substance synthesizer she had to use a syringe.

Ril knelt next to her, watching, the soldier, crewman with red hair looked at her from behind a little to closely but swiftly averted his gaze when she tightened her grip on the pan and glared bck.

The woman beside her opened the large case, to Ril's surprise it was full of premade single use syringes, hundreds, many of them empty.

"What's inside?" The woman ignored her, hastily taking one of the syringes out of its prison, a three fingered hand prevented any further movement.

"What's inside? I'm not letting you inject _him _with anything."

"It's a cure for the collector plague." The woman's voice was cold, and communicated very clearly Ril was going to let her hand go.

"I'm a graduate from the Halk'tot academy! I know my way around medicine, tell me what's inside that syringe."

A fierce staring contest began, perfectly symmetrical blue eyes glaring at full white hid behind green reinforced plastic, the human gave up with an exasperated sigh.

"Fine, it's full of nanites, they counteract and kill the organisms in your, _boyfriends'_ bloodstream, the nanites will degrade when they've done their job, it's completely harmless."The leader sighed, white eyes widened behind their protective shield, the woman was perceptive, and judging by the sly smile on her face she was well aware of it

"O-ok, are you sure it's safe?"

"Do you want him paralyzed for the rest of his life? No? then let me do my job, we have a whole colony in need."

The needle entered Fredrick's skin with surgical precision, no need for guidance holograms apparently, the woman knew her way around human anatomy.

The quarian alternated her gaze between the needle and the human's face, there was no reaction.

The sharp metal left the pink skin with a small puff of medigel to seal the prick, the woman rose up and closed the case, her accompanying soldiers joined up besides her.

Just then Ril heard an odd gurgle, coming from the human beside her, he twitched and convulsed, gradually the twitches became less erratic, flailing rather than convulsing.

"He'll be alright" the genetically engineered woman spoke with a smirk, she left without a goodbye or mentioning her name, merely glancing at her and at the mutilated corpse of the creature, still leaking its foul fluids onto the floor.

"Ril? Ril!" The prone human's question took her off guard, he had stopped convulsing completely, his eyes were awake and aware, not groggy and barely conscious.

"Fredrick!"

"What the heck, how did I get here?" He groaned and attempted to disengage himself from the blankets Ril had so meticulously packaged him in, she grabbed onto a shoulder to steady him as he attempted to prop himself up on unsteady arms, the quarian didn't notice the trio leaving without a word.

"Are you all right? Move your toes, and fingers.

"Ril, please, I'm fine, I just…" He grabbed his head and groaned "I just remember making breakfast for us, and then, these insects! they just, what happened!"

"Hey, don't worry, it's over, now, can you move your limbs?" He responded by flailing around a little, Ril grinned, happy he was alright, that the danger had passed, hopefully.

She removed a speck of brown blood from his cheek, eliciting a smile on the still dazed human.

"Thanks." He frowned and glanced at the battered piece of metal lying besides her, dented and coated in dried blood.

"Hey, what happened to my frying pan?"

**That's it, I hope you enjoyed, like and favourite, stalk and subscribe, review, comment and organize parades in my honor.**

**Ok mayne not the last bit. (Yes the last bit, you can do it.)**

**Also this chapter makes my story M rated, because of a word.**

**Fuck.**

**Yep, that word.**

**Fuck Fuck Fuck.**

**It's rather silly really, but content in planned that would have raised the rating anyways, sex and violence and all that stuff, also I might just have misinterpreted the rules.**

**And here's the looong review answering tally, list, thingy.**

C: Thanks; there will be violence aplenty in the story as well so keep reading if you'd like.

Corumb:: Yeah, that was the plan at first, but it was a little unrealistic, running around on a colony swarming with drones carrying heavy weaponry is a bad idea, the reason Ril and Freddy got out alive was due to Shepard distracting the collectors, the team of heavily armed specialists have a higher priority than a quarian with a frying pan.

Guest: Thanks!

Tim: Thanks! I'm glad you like it, I think making yet another novelization of the games would be a little boring.

IKE-AR: Well I hope you enjoy the ride!

Namz98: I've already answered your review and had a long insightful discussion with you, just putting this here so it doesn't seem like I'm ignoring you.

PeterQuill47: Yeah, the viddisc bit was a little, well, yeah…

Detective-Mason: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Bud89: No worries, I'm just glad you enjoy the story!

Facemelter: That's a neat idea, I'll see about including this, it has the potential for an adorable scene.

Micheal3433344:Thank you!

Akz251: sorry to disappoint, you'll have to settle with Miranda, for now at least.

TW6464: Why thank you.

WhiteDawn: Alright, no worries, as for how to review, well try bringing up what you didn't like, and then what you did like.

The mighty text, bow down to his holiness: Yes, I appreciate your praise mighty one.

**And that's all of them I think, thanks for the feedback, it's appreciated, always forever.**

**Also, fun fact, originally Jacob was going to accompany Miranda (He was removed because I figured there should be an even distribution of "Elite characters") The scene resulting from it was removed because it made Ril sound like a Massive racist, rather poorly written, though it makes me wonder how aliens would react to human ethnicities, probably like we react to purple and blue and cyan asari…**

**Anyways review and follow and all that stuff, and stay tuned!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"So you just, smashed its head in with a frying pan!?"

"Yep." The quarian's nonchalant attitude came as a surprise to Fredrick, the whites of her eyes thinned in what he hoped was a smile.

"Just, jumped on it!"

"Yep, can you breathe alright?"

He nodded, stunned, even as Ril began examining his throat and neck with tender care.

"Didn't it fight back?"

"No, not really, keelah that's really swollen, does your neck hurt?"

"No." He tried to gain her attention even as she was engrossed in touching and examining the bite from the insect with her hands. "You didn't know it was harmless, right?"

"I don't know, I just got really mad at it, everything's sort of blurry from there on, I just, flipped."

"I still can't wrap my head around it" he tried and succeded in sitting up, his still unsteady body protested and he groaned. "You just, attacked it, killed it, for me."

Ril ceased her ministrations and turned to face the human, he stared at the wall with a vacant look, his voice hollow as he spoke.

"You could have ran away, that thing looked terrifying, and… big."

She sighed and sat down in front of the lightly trembling human.

"What about you?"

His eyes met hers.

"What about me?"

"If we were in switched situations, would you have helped me?"

Fredrick didn't need any time to contemplate her question, an image came to the forefront of his mind, him bashing the creature's head in with a chair, she was right of course.

But he couldn't shake the odd feeling of shock and awe that someone had went out of her way to _save _him, maybe it was lingering shock from the attack, he was still very unsettled over how his body had ceased responding.

"Of course I'd save you." He began moving all his fingers at once, to ensure they worked. "I just, I… don't know what to say."

Ril shushed him with a finger on his lips, the thick digit traveled to cup his cheek along with its companions.

"Then don't say anything, you need to rest, ancestors know what's floating about inside you"

"Well, you're the nurse." He remained still for a moment, lying down on the thick bed of blankets, limbs occasionally twitching.

"What happened anyway?"

"I don't know… I jumped the-"

"Thanks for that, again..."

"Yes, I jumped the alien there, and after that you just laid still, on the ground halfway inside that pod, thing…"

"Oh yeah, I remember being in something squishy, and I couldn't move."

"After that, I gathered a few cloths and put you here, and well, watched over you."

He smiled, a little stunned, and surprised at her doting, and how comfortably the little nest she had made was.

She was baffled as well; taking care of one of the aliens whose brethren had tormented her many times was positively ridiculous.

Yet it felt _right_.

"So, is it over? Are you ok? Am I ok?"

"Yes Fredrick 'miller, I am ok, and we're safe."

"Are you sure It's alright? What if-"

She shushed him with a finger on his lips, keeping him from working himself up to a panic attack, something quarians were prone to.

"You're fine, relax my little human, I'm here to keep you safe and sound."

There was a maternal note in her voice, and a giggle, more so than with the few patients she treated on the Tozzalk.

The thought elicited a frown, was she a bad nurse?

"Heh, well I appreciate that, I still can't thank you enough, you know that right?"

"Right." She grabbed hold of his arm. "Come on, you would probably be more comfortable on the couch, I'd have put you there myself, but…"

"I was too heavy?"

"Right." He chuckled and allowed the quarian to pull him up.

Dave was a medic, a civilian medic. A civilian medic now holding a rifle.

The object felt foreign to his hands, heavy and dangerous, his reaction was to keep it away from him.

The M-8 avenger was lauded for its remarkable safety and reliability, the inner workings hidden by cushioning gel that also acted as a heatsink, its protruding barrel short and sturdy, most of its length concealed within its plated body.

Rumor was you could use it as a hammer and a club with no ill effect.

A weapon so remarkably simple, trivial, to use that it spread across the galaxy like a wildfire and continues to spread like the asari tendril rash

Yet Dave feared the weapon, every step he took alongside his companions was spent with trembling hands and silent horror.

The man in front of him, an old grizzled man who had an aura of respect that commanded his attention, and was the reason Dave was walking with a rifle and patrolling the deserted colony he called home turned to face him.

"You're doing it again; hold it close, it won't bite." The man grunted out.

Dave obeyed; hesitantly he forced the gun closer to his chest.

The Medic turned colonist decided he regretted getting the militia training, he'd much prefer being without a gun, as unpalatable the thought was a few hours ago with aliens and starships and bugs.

But now the colony was silent, eerily empty, this part of it had been on the border between the abducted and untouched sections, he expected none left alive, or even bodies.

But the recently landed Alliance soldiers had insisted the possibility existed and Dave had been "volunteered" to accompany the group of soldiers, they had few medics available, especially for an entire colony full of paralyzed people.

The man in front raised a closed fist, the small group halted, armor and guns clattering but no word was spoken.

Dave felt very out of place as he was pushed to the back of the squad, protected by the bulk of the troop.

"Did you hear something?" the medic whispered to the soldier closest to him.

"Yeah, stay close, I think there's a straggler the mechs didn't get in that hab over there."

Dave obeyed, his bulletproof west didn't make him feel very confident and he was relieved to stay at the back, shielded by the suited professionals.

With practiced ease the squad circled the building, gradually creeping closer without making a sound.

They approached the door, Dave at the back peered over the shoulders of one of his comrades at the innocuous opening.

It flew open, kicked; one of the aliens, a brown four eyed monstrosity flew forward, it was gravely wounded but it didn't seem to need a head.

The squad opened fire upon the creature; weapons already at the ready flashed blue and penetrated the creature with cold fury.

Dave froze; he didn't shoulder his rifle, or fire, even as the creature fell forward onto the leader's body He didn't react.

"Hold fire! Hold fire damnit!"

The leader bellowed from under the alien's body, but it was redundant, the men under his command had already stopped shooting.

He gasped as his gaze followed the others, in the doorway stood a human, quivering in his worn civilian clothing, eyes as wide as dinner plates, trembling hands slowly rising as he anxiously scanned the soldiers.

"D-don't shoot! I-I g-give" Dave found himself amused at the man's uncontrollable stuttering and shaking terrified body.

A red blur flew from the right, behind the doorframe, it pulled him out of sight, none of the soldiers opened fire on the swift red object, much to Dave's relief, the old man had enough of action for the day, for the year.

Then there were silence, only the breathing of the men and whatever was inside could be heard, intermittently sounds of shuffling and what sounded like scared whimpering from something alien penetrated from beyond the doorway.

Dave could have sworn there was something in English said and the whimpering stopped.

A pause.

"YOU DET'KAZUAT! BOSH'TET SHESH'TATI, KURV'AS!" the entire group was shocked by a continous stream of alien cursing suddenly breaking the tense silence.

"YOU CARELESS IDIOTIC ALLIANCE GARV'LITS, I'D CLAW YOUR EYES OUT YOU-"

The voice was muffled behind the wall yet incredibly loud even then. "Hey can I go outside without people trying to murder me!" a human voice suddenly spoke up, not sounding very confident.

Fredrick Suddenly found himself face up, something was making noises and patting him down frantically, furiously, anxiously.

He opened his eyes again and saw a green surface right in his face, Ril.

He wasn't in any pain but she seemed to be, whimpering and mumbling soft alien words to him too low for the translator to pick up, wait, to him?

"Ril? Are you okay?" she visibly lit up and ceased her patting down.

He placed a hand on the quarian's heaving body, her panting matching his.

"Ril, I'm okay, they didn't shoot at me."

Her stare locked to his eyes with frantic speed, the little voice light below her visor blinked in time with her breathing.

"Keelah, are you sure nehya? I'll rip the deskuls off the careless idiotic bosh'tets with my own hands!, I'll murder th-"

"I'm okay, calm down, wait neh-"

The quarian girl scanned him anxiously despite his assurances.

She stopped her examination with a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder. Fredrick wasn't sure who she meant to reassure,

Ril offered a slender hand, he took it, helping him up with it, muttering about ripping and tearing all the while.

What followed was a tender hand on his cheek and the most vile stream of curses he had ever heard directed at the soldiers outside.

"Hey, can I go outside without people trying to murder me!" he joined in the stream, his voice wasn't willing to cooperate and he sounded less intimidating than planned.

He paused and remembered an important memory.

"Ril, stop swearing, I think they got the message."

He didn't blame her yelling, the opposite, but his mother had taught him long ago never to escalate a situation, especially if the opposing party had guns, especially if they had guns, he hoped Ril had been right about them being alliance, the only word he managed to pick up.

"Are you alright sir? You can't be here, you nearly got shot!" One of the soldiers had entered the room, he held his helmet in his arm, clad in alliance red and white, much to Fredrick's relief.

"Yeah, I'm _aware_"

"You threw a corpse at us, we were startled!"

"Startled? You nearly shot him!"

Fredrick was about to retort when a roaring sound reached his ears, thrusters, or thunder, had the alien ship returned?

He turned his eyes to the sky, as did the others.

Sure enough a large ship emerged gracefully from the clouds with the blue sheen of flaring thrusters lighting it up with a haunting hue, it tumbled and strained down onto the planet's surface, it was big, sleek covered in black and white armor, orange highlights painted on, it wasn't alien.

And it was beautiful.

The soldiers radio started chattering audibly, loudly, Fredrick couldn't discern any of the words spoken and Ril didn't even seem to notice the sound, merely glaring holes in the man...

"We need to go, you two need to get to the shelter!"

"What? We're safe here!"

"Listen, we're getting conflicting reports about this ship, you need to leave."

"We're not leaving, that's final, the mechs took care of all those bugs, there's no need, I prefer staying here, and that ship is clearly human."

The soldier sighed.

"Your choice, we will continue our patrol, the shelter is at Bradenbury's courtyard if you change your mind."

The man left unceremoniously, without looking back he joined up with the rest of his squad, and a very out of place looking civilian and walked away.

Fredrick and Ril remained by the door, shoulder to shoulder, gazing at the ship and attempting to once again calm down together and recover from their ordeal.

An apparently impossible task…

_**SHESH'TATI**_

**Inferior.**

**A descendant of the word "Shes'tet", or "slave" long since fallen out of use but has begun making a comeback with the Fleet First pro-quarian movement, while the Vanni clan has chosen to renounce the movement like many others the word has been exposed to the populous by public conversations between the movement's members.. **

_**KURV'AS**_

**Scavenging flying creature, often responsible for eating large amounts of grain, after the flotilla's creation the creature's name has expanded to include many different undesirable species due to a lack of proper archives in the early days of the fleet.**

_**GARV'LITS**_

**Incompetent follower, one who walks but does not see, mindless and dull.**

**Considered very rude in the flotilla since it embodies and encourages some of those qualities, being very authoritarian.**

_**DESKULS**_

**Male organ not present in human males, can be ripped off as Ril was very willing to demonstrate. **

**Asari tendril rash.**

**Common in asari with poor hygiene, mold like lesions that itch, prelavent between tendrils but can occur elsewhere.**

**Isolated cross species cases has occurred, most commonly in Batarians, and Vorcha, both species having moist skin suitable for the disease.**

**Like most skin conditions in asari it can be treated with the patients own biotics, a weak warp field is suffiecient.**

**That's it folks! I hope you enjoyed! Sorry for the long wait.**

**I'll be off on a trip tomorrow so updates may take awhile, as always heh.**

**Anyhow Review and favorite please**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

The cool gust of air coming from an open window gradually increased into a tremendous roar, a turbine, the pane of glass clattered until the source passed.

A Manta IFV, driven by a large fusion reactor, kicking up dust the vehicle passed Fredrick's hab unit closely, squeezing between the buildings, shaking the very ground.

"That's the fifth one." The human observed, watching the window slam shut again from his sofa.

It was getting uncomfortable in his domicile, the power was cut, and the constant noise of passing shuttles and thundering trudging of YMIR mechs made sleep impossible, choking warmth and dust seemed to seep into his very soul.

Ril acknowledged him with a nod then she rose from her seat next to him and moved towards the open window.

"Do you think we should get to that plaza?" he asked as he watched Ril watch the outside.

"I don't know, it feels like we're in a warzone."

He chuckled.

"Well we kind of are."

"Yeah…" her voice was somber, Fredrick watched her as she continued peering outside, observing the landing ships.

He began rising from the couch, wanting to see what had caught the alien woman's attention but he barely it off the cushions before she spoke again.

"Maybe you're right?"

"Right about what?" She turned to face him, voice low and stance slouched, subdued.

"Leaving, I don't like it here…" Seeing his expression change she quickly added "To go to the plaza, I didn't mean it like that, It's just, this whole thing it reminds me of Tirala."

Closing the distance Fredrick stood next to her, leaning on the windowsill.

"I don't really know much about what happened there…"

"It was, well I wouldn't say it was wonderful, but I had work, I maintained the electronics and did some cleaning."

Sensing a story Fredrick allowed her to continue speaking, eyes focused on her mask.

"I used to feed the birds too, it's silly I know, but…" she paused, glancing to and fro his eyes, embarrassed.

"Well?" he nudged her playfully with an elbow, amused at her sudden change of tone.

"I liked them, the birds, they didn't care I was in a suit." Her tone changed to a more wistful one, eliciting a smile from the human.

"I remember a red tailed taugfink always pestering me for seeds…" She giggled at the memory.

"Wait, how did you know what kind of bird it was?"

"I read about them in the book you gave me."

"You kept it? But it was so damaged, broken, half the pages were missing!"

"Of course I kept it, you gave it to me, it would be rude to throw it away, and I liked the book, even if it had a few scratches."

Another Manta passed by, but Fredrick didn't notice.

Puzzled by her attitude he remarked. "Scratches? It's practically garbage; I should buy you a new one instead." Ril turned to face him with a swiftness he didn't know she possessed.

"_No _You will not."

"Oh, I- I didn't know it meant so much.."

Noticing his apprehensive expression she added, with a softer tone. "It was the first thing I've been given, ever, that wasn't necessary on my pilgrimage.

It's _not _garbage it's a good gift from a good man."

He could practically hear her smile, they didn't say anything for a long time, merely watching the tanks go by with their elbows resting on the wooden windowframe..

After a long silence Ril opened her mouth again, she did so with a sigh.

"There was a little pond in the park you know…" Fredrick remembered that pond; he had seen it when he first landed on Tirala, but he had a feeling this wasn't a good memory, her somber voice attesting to that.

"I saw it ripple that day, before the shockwave hit, I remember being curious about why the waves looked like that."

He saw her shudder in recollection, images long since buried coming up to the surface.

He put a hand on her shoulder as she began to continue but he quickly spoke before her.

"Hey, you don't need to tell me this if it brings up bad stuff to the surface again." Attempting to sound as understanding as he could Fredrick squeezed her shoulder, not very experienced with that kind of situation he was surprised to feel Ril clasp his hand in her own small hand

"Alright, ok…" He smiled reassuringly, hoping it didn't scare Ril away, the opposite happened, she seemed to brighten up, a little.

Ril frowned as her feet made contact with the smooth stone of the plaza.

She and the human she considered hers had decided leave the secure confines of the hab-unit, Ril regretted the decision almost immediately as she saw the many patrols of soldiers, weeping civilians, all forced together in a small open space.

The entire flocks of humans were exposed to the sun and the elements.

Frearick and her passed several guards. She saw them glare behind their helmets; Ril huffed, her time with Fredrick had nearly trampled her fears and apprehension around aliens into the ground.

But the way they looked at her brought them back instantly, disgust, loathing, hate.

They passed the ring of sentries, Fredrick not saying a word merely presenting his ID and some papers about her. She understood his silence obviously still shaken over the recent events, it was unsettling.

Her own hands trembled slightly, entire body on edge, she'd catch herself jumping at noises, even the returning bird's song, once calming and soothing to hear was shrill and unpleasant she was still running on adrenaline.

The stone plaza, old bricks laid on a flat plane blasted by the sun and worn by the humans the plaza had a certain haunted look. surrounded by several benches stood an odd device Ril had seen used to circulate water on several planes of metal but now the large contraption was silent in the center.

The sun glared and she felt her suit warm up. Her nostrils drew in the simulated scent of plants and hot stone.

She tugged her body closer to his soothing warmth as they began passing family after family, group after group of humans, some sitting alone, some without their mates, children crying in the background.

Ril felt her nehya respond by grabbing her hand, a gesture she appreciated immensely. the word wasn't for humans, but it felt _right_ using it on him.

They found a small vacant spot on the ground, next to a large stone block used to house colorful plants.

The ground was hard and hot.

She sighed, turning a helmeted head she saw Fredrick look around, anxiously, the screeches of a human cub in the hands of a soldier seemed to disturb him, the whole area was a concentrated focus point of all the despair and loss experienced on the colony.

She didn't see his face, like the other humans he seemed to look for someone.

A disturbing thought suddenly occurred to her, what if _he _had lost someone? Maybe he wasn't looking at the survivors; he was looking for one, that didn't survive.

"Freddie?" her voice was faint, she touched his shoulder gently, catching his attention.

Pulling him in for a hug, what surprised her was how he didn't hug back.

"Ril? Are you alright?" she heard his voice reverberate in his chest, but the tone was quizzical, worried even.

"Keelah, I thought you lost someone." She didn't pull back, his chest was pleasantly cool compared to the sun, at least that's what her sensors told her, but the closeness gave her some little comfort at least.

"You didn't, did you?"

"No, I, was just looking around, I've never seen anything like this…" he slowed the words, baffled by the scene he was seeing, gradually, reluctantly his hands closed over her back, pulling her closer.

"It's horrible." He murmured, slowly, shocked…

She nodded against his cheek, disgusted murmurs from the many people around reached her ears.

She removed herself from the hug, practically feeling the glares burn into her back at the display of public affection.

"All these people."

She distanced herself from him, pulling away from his arms, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible, she didn't want to ruin the mourning with her presence, head lowered.

He glanced at her; there was no accusation present in his gaze, only, disappointment, Rejection, sadness even?

Hurt.

She didn't understand, the glares forced her head down, the force with which they looked shocked her like a gust of wind, tearing through her resolve like leafs in an autumn gale.

A sigh made itself known from the human beside her, Fredrick, the noise was barely audible, a strong exhale, she turned and looked at him, clearly shaken, gazing out over the horizon and the plume of smoke billowing in the distance.

He had been amused just seconds ago, she didn't understand.

Ril remembered how she had felt after the events on Tirala, how she had panicked and been frighteed.

She suddenly realized Fredrick must have shared her feelings, sharing; it was a charade, his stoicness, his jokes and chuckling, attempts to keep calm, emotions in check, just like her prowling and thievery when he arrived at _her _colony.

Racism be damned Ril was going to hug this human, and she was going to do it immediately, he needed it, so did she.

She pulled him in, running her hands along his hair as she forced his reluctant head to her chest, he soon stopped straining against her touch, hands finding themselves around her slender waist, pulling her closer.

"Are you alright?" He mumbled, voice muffled by her bust.

She flinched.

"Alright? I thought I was supposed to _ask _you that."

"Yeah, I'm fine.."

"Fredrick! You can't possibly be 'fine' starting the day off being abducted, paralyzed; I'm just waiting for you to break down."

"I, don't think it's all sunken in yet.."

He did sound rather hollow, that was a relief, Ril didn't want him to keep it all inside, like she had, still did.

She turned off her audio receptors, silencing the painfully loud murmurs of discontent. and tried to filter out the heat, she too held memories inside, bad ones.

Ril noticed he didn't try and pull away, she smiled in her mask and began running her fingers along the fur on his head, enjoying the way his breathing slowed at the touch.

"I'll be there when it does."

**I disliked writing this.**

**I think I'm overdoing the cuddly wuddly, but I'm not sure if I am, It's heartwarming and all, but is it too much?**

**Next chapter will at least be a little story oriented, with something new, I'm itching to write something that's new,I have a few ideas, and have reworked the jumbled mess that I called a script.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please tell me what you think about the hugging and all, review and comment.**

**Also, I'll respond to previous reviews below, but first, have a bonus story, unrelated, taking place on a colony where the huge collectors from Paragon lost have invaded, why do I post it? I feel the chapter was too short, so I compensate by posting this.**

"Target identified."

The massive bone white behemoth droned voice cold, heavy accelerator cannon spinning up, whining in the cool morning air.

It's target, a collector, standing 3 meters tall turned at the voice, it chattered, raising its particle rifle, preparing.

YMIR-626A, stoic and enormous, it didn't flinch, heavy reinforced feet stomped into the ground, field generators anchoring the mech to the ground, YMIR-626A was staying at its designated position, as ordered.

"Firing." each barrel rotated, dispersing strain amongst its brothers, laying down a stream of hyper accelerated raisin sized metal slugs at its target, the collector, the heat nearly melting the weapon, a constant rain of disposable heat sinks keeping the gun from bending in the immense strain.

The thrum was enough to shatter windows, tear eardrums, the air ignited, flaring around the slugs like miniature explosions.

Its target was too fast, dodging the stream tearing through hab after hab, felling walls and trees, the dexterous alien climbed onto a roof firing off burst after burst of fire, smattering off the YMIR's Armour.

A round found purchase, ripping through the Mech's lower sensor array, it blinked out of existence.

The YMIR swayed, stabilization gyros whining as another wave of exotic rounds struck its hardened chassis.

"Firing."

Another heavy burst roared forth, dancing across the ground, uncontrolled targeting arrays trying to recalibrate.

A turian far away was slapped as he prepared to open his mouth.

The collector's body was pushed back by the very volume of fire the Mech laid down.

The ray of light, metal, plasma and cold robotic wrath arced across the aliens barriers, too slow to react to the collector jumping, the Mech braced itself, chitin clashing with alloy, The alien scratched, the YMIR punched, claw like arms neatly severing a limb, its adversary screeched in anger.

the alien pushed back, toppling the war machine, the protector of a once dead colony, it launched another volley of unexplained particles, tearing at YMIR-626A's exposed belly, ripping the armour, rending its components.

if the YMIR was human it would lament its failure, but YMIR-626A was no human, it was tasked with protecting the humans, its programming stated it, clear and well formatted from the last colonist it was tasked to protect, the mechanic laying dead in storage unit five.

A punch, hard and foreign, alien, tore cords and components from YMIR-626A battered chassis, redundancies engaged with a whine, power was rerouted, a capacitor caught fire and burned, /Colonist_Human_Mechanic_Lina_Svensson's additions worked well, the metal giant trundled back into life, burning, an avatar of destruction that at this moment had seen the face of love, directed at its cold unknowing, uncaring husk.

YMIR-626A was not sad, it was not happy as the slugs tore apart, ripped, demolished, severed and cut through the invader's belly, it didn't laugh or grin as it stomped on the wretched creature's head, coated in alien blood.

It was not avenging Lina's death, it did not comprehend her crying in the night or why it had a heart carved deep inside its body.

YMIR-626A was a weapon, a Mech, unfeeling, inhuman.

More aliens approached, small corrupted humans paired with larger batarian hybrids.

The auto cannon spun into life yet again.

Ripping and tearing forth large swathes, the missile rack roared, auto fabricators converting the very ground into more missiles, omnigel dripped from the lathing arrays, overloaded.

The tide could not be stopped, each husk was replaced by two more, felling a scion brought the attention of a dozen others, the air thick with dust and smoke.

YMIR-626A would stand, it would not yield.

The blazing stream arced and pinged across a Cannibal's wicked hide, splitting it in half, a husk simply ceased to exist, annihilated.

But the cannon could not sustain the level of abuse it endured, the fabricators burned out, the heat sinks stopped falling.

The battered titan, smoking and barely functioning kept firing, liquid coolant dripping from its torso, the horde drew ever closer, fire pinged across its remaining Armor, the cannon melted, turning into a torch, scorching heat radiating from it, the rounds kept coming, grinding, bouncing across bent acceleration rails, a hail of burning steel that clove through the swarm.

The husks were close, YMIR-626A acknowledged the failure of its weaponry, but it did not act incapacitated, tackling through the swarm with its burning appendage, melting through, it would stand.

The tide of blue corrupted organic life descended upon the mech, throwing it to the ground, the launcher was ripped away, the volume of adversaries far too much for the servos to hold.

But the horde was thinned out, the gun had done its work, each swipe of the glowing metallic claw wiped out enemies that were not replaced.

YMIR-626A acknowledged the decline in foes, crushing forth, punching, the torso rotated, burning and ripping.

The servos ground and cringed.

The Mech was dying, it attempted to right itself as its legs failed, fuel tube 1 through 6 were severed, capacitor bank A, D and C were simply missing, power was dropping and the internal fire was spreading.

But YMIR-626A was not deterred, it did not fear death, for one to die one had to be alive first.

The scorched warrior rose from the pile, opportunistic rounds pinged against its cratered hull, fire control ignored them.

It shuddered and quivered, but it rose, limping.

YMIR-626A would stand.

It staggered over to storage unit five, trailing debris, metal and smoke.

The colony was dead, as it pinged the automated repair suite hidden inside the building YMIR-626A spent 0,8 seconds more than necessary staring at the fallen woman inside.

**Review responses:**

1054SS325MP

Great! I'm glad one of my favorite authors likes what I've written, it's flattering.

seagreenshoes

Yeah, but the thing is, Ril and Fredrick have no idea the reapers are coming, they, like the rest of the populace, are skeptical. Thus he thinks his space suit and survival rifle is adequate, and is more likely to buy food and medicine, instead of a new set of armour, they simply have no need of it.

Peterquill47

Indeed, well here it is, I hope you enjoyed.

And unfortunately, it's been awhile since I watched 2001, so I don't remember much of it.

Namz89

Good advice! I added *** to help distinguish the POV change, I hope it's adequate.

SilentPony

Indeed she is!

Detective-Mason

It was _really _fun writing that scene.

TW6464

Yep, you're right, unless you were thinking about something else than the Normandy of course!

Mr. Mookenstein

Custom, all created on the fly by yours truly, I want my quarians alien (Well exotic alien, not Shoggoth alien.), so warbling and neck ducts along with toothy tongues are all on the menu.

Inu-shommaru

Thanks! I hope you'll enjoy reading it!

WojoClan

Well, a fanfic? I don't think there's a word for non canon characters being the focus, but It's intended to be a romantic/action story if that's what you're wondering.

**I know this chapter was short, that's why I added this bonus fic, I have tons of them lying around, maybe I should start a short story collection? Updated often with short snippets about 600 words apiece?**

**Also the next chapter will hopefully be better written as I'm trying out a few new techniques, but I didn't want to rewrite this entire chapter, I just wanted it out there so you know I'm alive.**

**Thus the quality will differ like the difference between this and the 1****st**** chapter, maybe not as big of a difference but still there.**

**Its one of the downsides with episodic writing, you can't edit past chapters so if you improve during the course of the story chances are you'll look back to the older chapters and think.**

**What was I thinking?**

**And I'd like to think I'm constantly improving (I hope.) so hopefully I'll look back to this chapter and think to myself. "What was I thinking."**

**Anyhow, review, and tell me about your opinions on the matters described above if you'd like.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The trees became a greenish blur as they zoomed past, the wind howled around the nimble utility craft speeding past through the warm air of the sunny day.

It had been four days after the attack, his ship was repaired and Fredrick had, for once; work, and plenty of it.

Practically everything was broken on the colony, scorched and short circuited parts rattled in the flatbed of his hovertruck. He even had to retune the mass effect fields to keep the vehicle from leaning.

Ril was napping in the passenger seat, sleeping soundly as he piloted the small vessel, light synthetic snoring supplying the cockpit with a pleasant, soothing ambient noise.

A nice and calming distraction as he guided his shuttle towards the next area and his next task; fixing a broken communications relay hidden deep within the woods. The mast had recently ceased functioning; curiously enough as they were built to last.

He carefully adjusted the skimming height to clear a piece of wreckage as he passed the crater it had formed.

Whatever the origins of ship that attacked Horizon was, it had been clear how badly damaged it had been as it had left, fled the colony.

Debris had rained down upon the planet long since it disappeared into space.

Like he did with the others Fredrick marked the location of the scorched chunk of metal for hazmat to deal with.

For some reason one wasn't allowed to go near them.

He shrugged; Fredrick had plenty to do and had no interest in examining the debris.

The leather of his seat creaked as he adjusted himself on it. Being in his ship once again after being stranded in space was still uncomfortable, even if he had crammed as many spare parts he could requisition into the various compartments.

The navigation VI beeped just as he looked up through his windshield, through the tree line stood a large tower, missing most, if not all of its antennae.

Still standing proud the large construction appeared otherwise intact, a curious occurrence different to the blasted and sometimes utterly demolished generators and other material he'd been charged with assessing and if possible, fixing.

"Ril, wake up, we're here.." He gently shook the quarian back to consciousness, her green visor soon lit up with a pair of glowing orbs as he squeezed her shoulder.

The luminous marbles blinked and focused onto him; their owner yawned and stretched like a cat in her seat.

He smiled and returned his attention to the control yoke; the VI released control and allowed him to fly the ship again.

"Morning Ril." He could hear a lingering yawn in her throat as she talked to him.

"Good afternoon you mean..."

He chuckled. "Yeah, you really sleep a lot."

"It's not my fault you humans have such an odd circadian rhythm." she said in mock exhasperation.

"Well I'm happy to serve as your mattress in any case." her eyes narrowed in an affectionate smile, or whatever face she did when one would smile, he smiled back before returning his attention to the landing of his ship.

"Thank you."

There was a clearing right beside the tall tower; filled with grass and surrounded by trees, the field made a perfect landing site.

A dusty road long since overgrown lay forgotten under the vegetation as Fredrick eased his vehicle down onto the grassy patch of land.

The sun's bright rays reflected in the vessel's wind-screen as it came to a rest under the cloudless blue sky.

"Well, we're here." The seat creaked as he and Ril rose up, the quarian stretching once again.

Fredrick stepped out onto the green carpet of plants, the life of the clearing was almost palpable, birdsong and insects chirping in the bush as he left his ship, offering Ril a hand she too jumped off the precipice.

The massive comms tower dominated the area like the fin of some great underwater beast, it protruded from deep within the soil, standing proud and rigid it reached up for the heavens.

At nearly 50 meters long it was an impressive sight.

It's grace was diminished by the lousy condition it was in, rust had began to seep in under the paint and its former luster was marred by great spots of dirt at the bottom.

"Keelah, it's taller than I thought." Ril commented from beside him..

"Yeah, though it's supposed to be taller." He raised his finger and pointed to the top of the decaying metal construction. "See that spot right there? There's supposed to be a few antennae there, they're really big."

"But there aren't any.."

"Yeah…"

"Did they fall off? That tower looks all rusty." She huffed in disapproval. "This state of decay would be unacceptable on the flotilla."

"Well, we're not on the flotilla." Fredrick leaned back and tried to see the top of the massive construction, to no avail, the sun blinding him.

He sighed.

"Looks like we have to climb up and see what's wrong with it.."

"Can't we use your ship?"

"No, I think the wind is to strong. Wouldn't wanna risk it, besides if I even scrape the paint it's coming out of my pocket."

"That's not very fair."

"Well, being a colonist rarely is, come on."

He forced the door open, it grinded against long since unused hinges, but didn't offer too much resistance.

Inside it was pleasantly cool

Cold grey metal lined the walls, visibly rusty spots stained the seams between panels.

A long ladder stretched far up, a rack of safety harnesses stood proud next to said ladder, and a long safety rail. Fredrick could swear he smelled urine as he and Ril ventured into the small dank room.

"Keelah, that's a long way up…" Ril mumbled behind him, he chuckled grimly.

"Yep, it'll be a long climb.." He reached for the harnesses, old and worn Fredrick examined them carefully. Whatever idiot had decided all equipment be housed in each tower deseved to be shot as Fredrick discarded a faulty one.

"There, these should do…" He examined Ril's body, she had been awfully quiet during their stay in the tower so Fredrick attempted to just glance at her to measure the quarian's bodytype, he doubted her thick fingers could fit into the harness and adjust the fitting.

But he had found a problem and his gaze lingered at her supple waist and wide hips.

"Uh, Ril?"

She turned to face him.

"I- I don't think you'll fit in one of these… " he thought it over, examining the device more thoroughly testing the clasps and the fitting of the loadbearingstrips of reinforced fabric.

"Your waist is too thin, and your hips are too, well wide." he tried to clasp it around her waist, but it merely slipped down on her hips which rendered the second segment rather useless. Her upper body was far too compact and while he could compensat for her waist, or hips; he couldn't do both.

"I'm sorry but I don't think this thing is made for your, shape..." Ril chuckled as he continued to fiddle with the rebellious object, eliciting an amused giggle from the quarian as he fumbled with her suit and it's many overlapping cloths and pockets.

"I'm sorry." He said and retreated with the ill fitting item.

"You know, even if it did fit, my legs can't climb your human ladders." he could hear the grin in her voice. "I wanted to tell you sooner but you were to busy staring at my gap." her grin transformed into a giggle.

"W-what! No-no I just tried to, erm, the harness. Wait. Gap?" he hurriedly looked away from her body, hoping intently he hadn't done something quarians deemed taboo; the teasing giggle in her voice suggested otherwise.

"You'll find out..." He felt his eyes blinking, doing a doubletake at the quarian who merely acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Well, I'll just see if there's anything wrong with the... tower..." she shifted her weight onto her hip and tilted her head, obviously amused at his stuttering.

Fredrick didn't answer, flashing red.

He quickly donned the collection of straps and belts. It clicked into place effortlessly into his work suit's loops and latches designed for just that.

He tested the fitting by repeatedly pulling on the device that would save his life if he fell.

"Right, you just... wait by the ship or something."

She nodded, her little head bobbing up and down inside the helmet.

"Just be careful." There was no hint of the previous teasing in her voice, just genuine concern.

He smiled as reassuringly as he could at the young alien and reached for the first rung of the ladder.

"I will."

Ril's legs swayed as she sat on the treshold of Fredrick's ship, occasionally she used her dextroues toes to pick at the grass or pull out a few plants which she had piled in a neat pile next to herself.

But mostly she spent her wait toying with her omnitool.

The orange glove flickered into life, she sighed and laid down; feet still hanging outside the craft.

Surfing, that's what her human had called it. Lazily browsing the etranet didn't seem to have much in common with riding on large boards on_water._

There were a few fun videos around, one of a particularly talented hanar that could act as a colorless Tv for the audience.

But otherwise not much caught the interest of the quarian.

She had no messages or any other signs of her family wanting to talk to her, Ril was a little saddened by it.

Her family, her clan too, had always been known as hardliners.

Strict when it came to rules, such as no communicating during pilgrimages.

But she was also relieved, she had no idea how she could eplain her- Involvement- with a certain human to her mother.

Lazily she began digging her toes into the soil while she stared up at the roof, things were getting boring.

Fast.

Perhaps she could have shown a bit more enthusiasm with the harness, it felt good to have his hands on her hips too.

But a fear of heights and improper leg shape forced her to quickly abandon those ideas.

She was also a little concerned, while it had been a few days she still found herself waking up to Fredrick clinging to her while asleep, Nightmares, she had of course stroked his hair, hugged him tight. and whispered words of comfort until his death grip relaxed.

But she didn't see much improvement, and on the mornings he was as cheerful as ever.

Perhaps she had teased him too much. A voice in her head suggested otherwise. But a burning desire to make absolutely sure he was okay snuffed out the voice, maybe she too was a little traumatized? the sight of such suffering had not been pretty, but Ril had seen worse on Tirala.

Her human hadn't and it was no secret to her.

"Ril? Ril are you there?" her comms suite crackled to life, she pushed a button on the side of her helmet; A real button, primitive.

"I'm here.." She yawned, the quarian epected another update on how tiring it was too climb, but was surprised when it didn't come.

"I've found something, I'm at the antennae. well, where they should be.." the wind blew into his omnitool, obscuring his voice.

"They've been disassembled, there's no burnmarks or anything."

"What? but, how?"

"I don't know, I talked to Control and they say they haven't ordered any disassembly."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea, there's even a few screws here. Whoever did this didn't care about stealth that's for sure." He huffed.

Ril moved out of the ship, taking care not to dislodge her little collection of weeds and dirt.

She moved her helmeted head skywards, quarian helmets came with advanced sensor suites and she used hers to zoom in onto the tower's top.

"Then where are the antennea?" she asked, gzing at the large metal spine protruding far into the sky.

She saw Fredrick scurrying around, like the "monkey" she had seen on the extranet

She found the climbing primate very amusing.

"I have no idea, they're like a hundred meters long! you don't just lose things like that!" She found herself nodding, he had a point true enough.

"what should we do?"

"I don't know, Control and Admin are too busy to investigate, I guess we-" A sudden burst of radio chatter interrupted him, the sound was faint in Ril's earpiece and she wondered what was going on."Hold on."

A long silence followed, she could still hear him talk with the voice, but couldn't discern any words from the buzz.

"Right, we should move, Control says another tower just went offline!" he suddenly said, startling her.

"Keelah.."

"Yeah, you go ahead and start the ship, I'm on my way down."

"Start it, b-but it's your ship.." She could hear his heavy breathing as he hurried down the ladder, between breaths he spoke, a smile in his voice.

"Of course you can, I trust you." the words put a warm feeling in Ril's suit and she skipped towards the controls.

**I hope you enjoy, this is a new story arc in the making.**

**Review and stuff please.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

"You got shields?" She heard from behind, busy steering the utility craft Ril didn't turn around to answer, eyes focused on the screens as she wasn't very familiar with actually flying something. Her muscles tense and her posture rigid in the seat.

"My suit has a barrier, yes." she attempted to turn to face him, but the five point safety-belt fastening the quarian to her seat didn't budge. "Why do you ask?" she inquired while navigating over a rather high tree.

"Well, I thought there might be pirates, or mercenaries or something there." she heard a zipper being pulled up. "It's why I'm putting my spacesuit on."

"oh." she mumbled. "Do we have any weapons?" She heard him chuckle, a sound that made her sigh for once.

This was serious, why hadn't he told her before? Pirates!

"Well, I've got my rifle."

"It's for hunting little animals!" she yelled. "Keelah! Don't you people have soldiers or anyone with combat training?" She said, exasperated at the lack of discipline, and resources in the human settlement.

A creak signaled Fredrick's arrival into his seat, she turned to him for a split second before returning her attention to the road, greeting him with a glance. "Not now, most are gone." the man made himself comfortable in the seat, finicking with his bulky suit."We don't even have air traffic control back online." His tone was remarkably bitter, a far cry from his usual mood.

The ship lurched and wobbled as a hard gust of wind hit the small craft. rattling the two inside and their belongings.

Fredrick gently reprimanded her. "Don't fly directly into the wind, not at this speed..." she nodded absentmindedly, then noticed he was busy once again struggling to sit comfortably in his place.

"Why don't you buckle up?" she asked, he had obviously been rattled by the turbulence while she sat safe and secure.

"Right." he replied, she could her his fumbling with the belts and clasps, she snickered as he struggled in his cumbersome EVA Armour but quickly brought her attention to the distant tower approaching in the distance.

"We're getting closer." she heard him sigh as the clasps clicked together. "I can't see any antenna..." she added, squinting and leaning closer until her helmet nearly touched the glass.

"Freddy? You see anything?" The human didn't respond, at first she thought he was merely looking through the window himself and thus didn't react.

But when she heard him scream and start yanking on the harness, she did.

Fredrick shifted as he felt the plates dig into his sides, they poked at his stomach and for all their worth as protection against micro meteors, he couldn't care less about space debris at the moment.

"Why don't you buckle up?" The quarian which he loved said, curiously enough she had her belt on.

He never used them, the built in mass effect field generators were usually more than enough to keep him in his seat.

But apparently the mechanics had forgotten about them, or Ril's flying was just that fun.

"Right." he grunted, reaching for the straps and clasps. It was hard getting them across his chestplate and oxygen hoses but eventually he managed to mate the male clasp with the female socket.

Any breeder would've been proud at the happy couple.

But their union was very tight.

_Very _tight indeed, suffocating even, experimentally he moved his arm.

The shoulder plate caught onto a strap and he found himself unable to turn the belts keeping him still.

Incapable of moving, his legs were weighed down by his heavy boots.

His breathing quickened.

No worries, this wasn't so bad his mind insisted as he began to twist and turn inside his Armour.

The human stilled momentarily.

Just move the arm, just like that.. and just move! Move!

He flexed his muscles to their limit, the plate didn't budge an inch, the strap didn't yield. It held him forcefully.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't move!

Panic rose to greet him, eagerly dragging his mind down to the instinctual level, fight or flight. He screamed and yelled, loudly spasming. The strap didn't give up! Flee!

He tugged and pulled on the clasp with excessive force. Panting loudly and grimacing as he failed wildly in his attempts to escape rom his prison, his state of paralysis.

A hand reached out and pressed with incredible dexterity at the right buttons.

He didn't notice it. His frayed psyche only registered a blurry horrible mess distorted by penetrating yellow light.

He trashed in his seat, his foe had became undone and he fell.

The blur faded.

He saw clearly now, the floor, cold and grey felt sharp and real as it kissed his face with cold dead lips.

Ril, the ship, the antennae.

It all flowed back into his mind.

"Fredrick!" she heard her yell. A cold shiver ran down his spine.

Ril, she'd think he was insane! Run away or something. He was acting ridiculous, his suit was light and elastic, it was easy to move in it.

"Are you Ok!? Talk to me!" He was acting like a crazy person. He realized.

"I'm okay... I'm fine.." he said, feeling himself being turned over. She had figured out the flight VI it appeared and was now busy moving him rather than the ship.

No you're not, what happened?"

"I'm okay, just a suit strap that caught onto my throat.." he lied at the woman who had saved his life.

"There are no straps there!" she responded dismissively.

He pushed back at the floor and righted himself, sitting up in his recently abandoned seat once again.

The man cached his breath, leaning forwards as the quarian attempted realize what had happened, she held him upright even if he didn't need the help.

She already had some ideas.

"It's nothing" he said.

"Fredrick.. it's okay, talk to me.." she cooed and touched his shoulder.

"It was nothing!" he repeated, louder. He felt how her hand flew off his shoulder and he instantly regretted what he said, _how _he said it.

She didn't respond even as he took control of the ship once again. Like a sinking rock the mood inside the cramped cabin plummeted.

"Goddammit..." he mumbled, palming his forehead in a gloved hand. "I'm sorry, it's nothing. Believe me, I don't want to talk about it." The man prayed to gods he didn't believe in that Ril wouldn't investigate further."I'm okay.."

He heard her huff. "No you're not, but I wont press the issue with a stubborn bosh'tet like you." she leaned back into her seat and looked at the tower that was now rather close."Not now..." she added, sounding rather concerned and determined at the same time. There was steel in her voice.

He didn't doubt she'd try and tape together his mind. He also didn't doubt she'd disapprove of the wreck he had become, after all she had came out just fine after the incident.

"We'll be there soon Freddie." she informed with a surprisingly gentle and soft voice. Like any other time he had raised his voice with a partner they had responded in kind. Not Ril, she had apparently decided to do something else. The man didn't mind, but the sudden change was very jarring.

"Good, do you see anything yet? Any antennae left?" he replied as he looked through the sizable window.

He couldn't see the spindly attachments and if the retraction motors weren't broken he wouldn't find it odd.

"No, it looks like they've been here before." He watched and snickered as she reached for the controls, only to find he had snatched them from her grasp earlier.

"Take us a little closer sweetie." There it was again, she didn't care he had deprived her off flying privileges!

He nodded and could practically feel the nurse bore into his mind.

The large metal fin wasn't a new sight, but as he circled it two things became apparent. The comms antennae were gone, and something had scraped a huge gash into the tower's side, brilliant silver glistered in the sun as the pair stared, dumbstruck at the wound in the building's hide.

A wound that had been inflicted upon the earth as well.

"Wow... looks like they messed up, or left in a hurry." he continued to stare at the mangled tower. Parts of the wall had buckled and the sun's rays penetrated inside the construction, lighting up broken girders and collapsed bundles of cables.

"Keelah." the woman to his left whispered. Then she perked up "Look! That ditch!" his eyes met where hers pointed, the depression formed in the soil stretched past the woods. He hadn't seen it before, too focused on the tower itself.

Something had dragged its way through the earth, and since there were scratches on the tower and no antennae which were the only thing weighing enough to scrape as deep.

It was easy to imagine what had happened.

Follow the ditch, find the antennae. A broad grin formed on Fredrick's tired face. This was great! Just fly for a bit then he could restore some sense of normalcy to his life.

"It's long, we should follow it." he affirmed. the orange of the fluid control panels whirled around as he gunned the small vessel's thrusters, blue light glowed through the rear window once again and the two were pushed into their seats.

Ril nodded.

Ril giggled as her body was thrust into the seat, the rush of speed and the whistling wind was new and exciting, the fleet's ships rarely went into atmosphere and the few shuttles she had flown were far too big for the speed she was experiencing.

Her experience was abruptly ended as she heard how her hairless primate shifted and squirmed into his seat until the effects of sudden acceleration had worn off.

Her smile turned around. She was well aware what had happened to him, a panic attack. But she wasn't a psychiatric, even the rudimentary training that came with being a nurse had been scheduled after she left for her pilgrimage.

Thus she was unsure of how she would alleviate his state. Speaking soft words to coax it out of him was the current plan.

Humans didn't seem to break down and be done with it like her kind, it was frustrating and heartbreaking to see.

But the mission came first, a message hammered into every quarian._ For the greater good._

And so she remained silent, pondering and worrying.

"I wonder how long that trench is?" she heard him ask, it was a question Ril didn't know the answer too.

She didn't want too, not being a quarian particularly interested in combat she was nervous before the inevitable confrontation with whomever had stolen the sensor masts.

The trench crossed a forest and beautiful trees and plants had been wrecked by the gash's creator, the pair flitted over the ocean of green, there was still no hint of an end to the gash.

"I don't know love." she responded, he looked at her curiously.

He knew.

"Well, I'm sure it's not that long."

"Has any ships been detected? Those things are very big if they can make those ditches. I can't imagine they can hide them here." The pink human chuckled ironically, she missed his light and amused chuckle.

"Nah, Traffic control is down, just like everything else. Last I heard they're still pulling collectors out of the tower." he looked down on his controls and mumbled to himself. "They had guns at least."

"Collectors?"

"Yep, that's what those monsters are called apparently, I'd have preferred 'kidnapper's or 'giant abduction freaks'" The names were certainly appropriate, all three of them.

A sudden greyish speck appeared in the distance, jarring the pleasant green vista and the blue sunny sky.

She wondered if it was the beginning of another section of colony.

"Fredrick?"

"Yeah?"

"What's that thing in the distance?" she asked, silently admonishing herself for forgetting another expression of affection at the end.

He didn't appear to have noticed and instead scanned the horizon.

"Where?" he asked after a few seconds of fruitless searching. "I can't see it."

She sighed, a little amused, it had been so obvious for her.

She pointed with one hand, her finger right on target, but the human didn't see the same angle as she did. Noticing his confusion she pressed closer until his head was besides her own.

"Now you see it?" she asked, noticing to her immense delight he was not moving away from her, or resisting her contact.

"Yeah, I do." he said after savored seconds, pulling back from her she watched him squint.

A grin exploded on his face, a surprised laugh.

"That's Bob!" he cheered, smiling widely as if welcoming an old friend.

"Bob?" she asked, she couldn't see any other veicles around, did he mean the platform's driver. "Who's Bob?"

"Our cargo hauler." he explained. "Man what's he doing out here?" His dull teeth were exposed the air as a big silly grin covered his face. "I thought he was in Sector-6B!"

"wait, do you mean like, a crew member? I think my translator i-"

"No no, Bob is a drone, a big one too."

"What, Bob is the hauler?"

"Yep, not a real hauler though, an in atmo glorified flying platform."

"Why... _Bob?_"

"When I first arrived here there was a scrapheap, our motorpool..." he seemed to travel to another time Ril liked stories so she kept quiet. "Most vehicles were broken, me and a few friends found Bob and fixed him right up, we needed him after some idiotic miner tunneled under a few habs."

Ril waited expectantly for more of the tale, but when it didn't seem more was forthcoming she opened her mouth.

"That Sounds fun. But you still haven't answered my question, why Bob?"

"Well, all the guys left shortly after, Bob was the first to go. We named the hauler 'Bob' in his honor."

She nodded slowly as the man finished his little tale. "oh." she said, knowing full well how friends leaving felt like.

Waiting for pilgrimage had its disadvantages.

A long tense silence followed as they tailed the massive cargo platform, sure enough one antenna had dislodged and like a monstrous pencil it drew lines on the ground, it became apparent as they flied closer.

The two didn't speak, somehow expecting an unseen pirate or mercenary to spot them and blow the ship out of the sky.

Occasionally gravel, rock and dirt rattled against the windshield, thrown up by the enormous pole dragged.

Fredrick adjusted the flying height and drew closer still. Ril could make out stacks of severed material, radar domes, antennae, even a hovercar or two, but nothing alive.

There were also a pair of gigantic arms but they were apparently part of the platform, at at least 50 meters long they made for an impressive sight.

Even settled in their folded position at the back.

No doubt they were used to steal the contraband. The arms themselves were in surprisingly good shape, one was a dexterous grasper with a large claw, the other had a smaller claw and a number of tools attached above it, mounted on smaller arms in a line.

"What are you doing!" she suddenly shrieked, the ship was dropping rapidly.

"I'm landing on him!" he responded, sounding rather confident.

"What! Are you insane!"

"No, but we don't want to be seen right? Lets hide behind the cargo, and we'll get closer.

Otherwise they'll just run away." he explained, concentrated at the flying his eyes didn't leave the controls for a second.

"What if they've got guns?" she pleaded, this was becoming scary.

"Well, we've got a ship. Worst case scenario, we call for help."

"From where?"

"That might be a problem..." He conceded, but quickly added. "I want to get them before they leave, if they go off world all the blame is gonna be on me."

"You? But it wouldn't be your fault!" The quarian didn't cease to be amazed at how ridiculous and unfair some rules were.

At first she thought colony life was just like a ground side flotilla, closely knit and dependable.

Not like this.

Her expectations might have been a little naive in hindsight she mused.

A tightly knit community was harder to get into.

And it was easy to have it turned against outsiders.

Like her, and since her human companion rarely let insults against her pass, he had became an outsider like her as well, in this short of a time?

The thought didn't sit well with her and her unseen smile she had plastered on her face diminished greatly.

"Yeah, but that's how it works.."

The floor approached, closer and closer it loomed under the ship, taking up most of the windscreen.

The ship came to a halt as it planted magnetic pads on 'bob's hardened metal deck, the stacks of plundered objects and equipment didn't quite rise above the ship, but managed to look intimidating nonetheless. Rows of severed antennae, neatly cut up in pieces rattled occasionally as the platform moved and swayed, it was slowing down?

"That was easy!" he remarked while Ril attempted to pry her hands off the chair.

Fredrick suddenly barked loudly in that curios voice of his, pointing furiously as he screamed his distress and frustration. Ril's head whipped around and prepared to jump at whatever had attacked _Her _human. But when she saw the blue glare in the distance he was pointing at Ril deflated.

They were too late.

**Will the story end here? Will Fredrick go insane? Will Ril hug him until he has problems breathing then awkwardly apologizing? Will the thief's be caught?**

**Oh the tension... **

**I had fun writing this, it's great to get out of the framework Bioware has set up.**

**Review if you enjoyed it, or if you didn't, maybe you want me to add something, or remove something.**

**Feedback is always nice, constructive criticism is even better! But all is appreciated even if it's just a "good job" or something along those lines.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

"I'll call it in..." Fredrick deadpanned with a sigh as he looked skywards at the rapidly shrinking blue star that had escaped.

And with it, incredible amounts of contraband.

There was a certain sense of hate in Fredrick's mind at that moment. He didn't care about the stuff, he didn't care if the colony couldn't communicate for a month or two.

Antennae could be fabricated and cargo could be reimbursed, in all honesty the man wanted nothing but to sit down and enjoy the money from the inevitable suing war about to ensue. Maybe move somewhere nice with Ril? Get a nicer ship.

But, even if the crime wouldn't have much of an impact, he still despised the one responsible.

The crime was so utterly rude, he almost felt dirty just thinking about it.

He did care, a little.

His omnitool's contact list provided all the information he needed and he decided to inform Admin and Control of his failure.

The man didn't brood on it as he tapped the appropriate numbers and raised the orange sleeve to his ear.

Ril was looking out the window and he decided to use the speaker function, maybe she had something to say too?

"This is Control." a female voice crackled from his omnitool. "State your business." curt as ever.

"This is Tech 1 uhh..4 9." he responded, still watching the sky, as if the blue dot would reappear if he glared hard enough.

"Roger that _Fredrick_" the voice intoned, Ril perked up.

"I was tasked with locating missing equipment. It was stolen, someone hacked bob-heavy platform 1, and took off into space." There was a short pause, the sound of papers rustling and someone barking orders travelled through the speaker. "Uhh, are you still there?"

Another voice, a gruff male tone that commanded authority. "Listen up 149! we need those things back."

"Yeah, I'm aware."

"Follow that ship! Make sure not to lose it." Both Fredrick and Ril did a double take at that, there was no way he'd go along with what the man was saying!

"Y-you can't be serious! Fuck man! I'm just a technician, and Ril's just a nurse."

"Language, 149." the man sighed audibly through the speaker. "look, we just want you to see where its going, the Alliance can't spare any ships and we don't have any crew." He spoke slowly, as if talking to a particularly retarded child. "Then you report their position and the alliance does all the hard work."

"But what about the rest of the stuff that needs fixing?" Fredrick pleaded, hoping for some way to convince the man what a bad idea this was. "I can't be in two places at once!"

"That's not a problem, as you're no doubt aware, we need replacements and new equipment. You can't repair an overheated capacitor array 149! You know that!"

"Yes."

"And how many of the arrays are overheated?"

"All of them..."

"Yeah, and guess what that thieving bastard has stolen besides a few cars and antenna?"

"Capacitor arrays.."

"Yeah, so you better get out there and do as I ask, or this whole colony will be as dark as the void of space!"

"Yes-" Fredrick had to stifle a 'sir', the man's voice was a far cry from the timid, often laidback and relaxed attitude of his current home, Horizon.

The man reminded Fredrick of his father, back when they lived on the starport of the moon, and later on the orbital drydocks. He could practically see the Alliance uniform through his voice.

Nonetheless the newly minted quarian connoisseur gathered some courage and spoke, voice as firm as he could muster. "I'll do it. But not without something in return, there's nothing in my contract about flying after pirates!" Fredrick hoped he sounded twice as convincing as he felt, then again ten zeros were still just that, zero.

The man, a most likely retired drill sergeant if the voice was any indication, grumbled."You.." the unborn rant never saw life as its parent came to the realization that the trail was growing fainter for every second."You can have that bloody rust heap when you get back!" the man exclaimed. "Now get going!"

Fredrick grinned, that's more like it! "Right, technician 149, out, thank you sir!." he barked into the radio and smiled wide. Ignoring the word that slipped out.

"Why are you so happy?" Ril asked with a curious gaze as he warmed up the engines.

"When we're done with this, I'll have my own ship!" Fredrick exclaimed triumphantly at the quarian while thumbing the controls.

"A ship?" she asked, heavy lift thrusters shining brightly through the windscreen while she spoke, the small vessel vibrated subtly."What ship? How big?"

"This ship!" he grinned. Loving the comparatively primitive tincan he had spent many nights and days in, his home away from home.

"But this is a shuttle..." she said dismissively. "It's a nice shuttle! Very nice.." the pilgrim added. "I didn't mean to offend.."

Fredrick just chuckled and patted the dashboard.

Reminiscing of all the fun times he'd had with his little vessel, flying under those freighters. He immersed himself in the memories, good times. "None taken." he replied absentmindedly.

The Nav computer beeped as it received tracking data from the lone remaining sensor tower standing proud amidst its fallen brethren, and Fredrick pushed down on the throttle.

Lazily his ship forced its way up into the sky.

There was short pause, both looking out the windscreen at the cool blue sky and the stars that shimmered beyond it.

He accepted the tracking information sent by Control and input the data in the ship's systems, engine frequencies and wavelengths. Useless in populated space. But this wasn't populated space. This was the empty desolate reaches of the terminus with but a few hospitable worlds suited for colonization, it was easy to discern between a freighter and whateve ship the thief had, in the sparse traffic.

Then you just needed to follow the line the ship formed.

It was all very simple, just follow the vector, and use the same relay data, or simply send none.

The autopilot could handle it.

They hadn't been hailed, so Fredrick doubted they had been noticed. A lazy sensor crew or an out of date VI probably, common amongst the filth of the galaxy.

Stars broke through the blue light, shining brightly like candles in the night.

It was beautiful and Fredrick couldn't help but stare at the marvel of nature that was the space between worlds. Lifting his gaze from the screens and just, watching.

He had yearned for it. There was no point in denying it, for all that had happened in the airless void Fredrick was still a spacer by heart, just like his father.

And it was good to be home.

Ril smiled underneath her green mask, watching her human's dull white eyes dance across the sky with a small content smile on his oddly pink lips.

She knew that look.

It was the look of someone returning to the comforts of home, and like the familiar scent of her family's cubicle, the sight of space managed to cheer him up significantly.

A task she had failed with.

Ril sighed and bent down, unlatching the seals on her boots.

The metal protecting her lower legs and feet was thick and unyielding and she relished the feeling of removing them. Revealing the thinner undersuit that allowed for far more relief and even a certain stretchiness the rest of her prison lacked. wiggling her long slender toes and she even stretched her claws a little, not poking far out from their sheaths but the action was reflexive. absentmindedly she propped them up on the dashboard

Fredrick chuckled as she sighed and saw her toes wiggle playfully as she looked at him with a smile.

Ril pondered what to do as she watched the dark void of space, while the human watched her toes stretching.

She liked pondering.

Ril turned her head to face the human, he had a soft smile planted on his rather cute pink face, a very large smile, then again humans were big compared to her kin.

The smile made her own smile form in return, for some reason Ril felt warm and happy when he was near her. The quarian didn't speak, not yet. Just watching the young man as he navigated space.

She shifted in her seat, while her model of suit lacked the probes and hoses that otherwise would be rammed up her various orifices, it was still uncomfortable at times, the material could crease at times, but now it was a little too tight and warm, she was very aware of her human glancing at her.  
Ril noticed how his gaze lingered, just a short while and once again she felt warmth in her bosom.

She didn't mind. She had stared at him many times, she liked what she saw.

She also remembered something.

"Freddie?" she asked."That girl, it sounded like she knew you.."

The man nodded. "You mean when I spoke to Control a few minutes ago?" he asked and Ril nodded an affirmative.

He rubbed his chin and hesitated. "Well, that's because I do know her, well, Knew anyway..."

"She's my ex." he added, awkwardly.

"Ex?" Ril didn't need to ask as her helmet, helpful as ever, looked up the term on the extranet.

A partner from an earlier relationship?

"Yeah, we were together a few years ago." he shifted awkwardly. "Things didn't work out."

She knew humans were far from the quarians lifelong monogamy, but she had never thought about it much.

A fair few quarians had relationships on their pilgrimages but they weren't viewed as serious, nothing more than a fling.

Ril realized she wanted more than a fling, but what if 'things didn't work out' between them too?

"What happened?" she asked, hesitantly. Once again he shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"Well... it was kinda my fault.." He admitted.

At least he decided to come clean to her, she had heard of alien infidelity and suddenly Ril felt disgusted as the man was about to confess his crime.

She couldn't imagine any other reasons, maybe she should wait and see.

"I was always away from her, flying around fixing stuff." his eyes didn't meet hers as he spoke. "We drifted apart. I just slept when I was at her place." Ril noticed there was a bitter frown on his face. She crossed her arms and frowned right back. Neglecting a partner like that. "She didn't want to come along."

"So we split up, well she dumped me in other words..."He said and Ril suddenly felt incredibly stupid, and a little angry at herself. Jumping to conclusions like that.

"But Don't worry!" he quickly added with surprising speed."I wont do that to you though." his face looked dejected, sad even. "I'll be with you till you have to go back. To your fleet.."

Ril sighed behind her prison. The pilgrimage. She had forgotten about it, how did that happen?

The human sitting in the seat beside her shifted slightly as her eyes met with his.

That happened.

She didn't regret it, and forgetting something as important as the pilgrimage served as ample proof for how much she liked being around him. Feeling both her mind and body grow warm in his presence.

A small little anecdote her mother had shared popped into Ril's mind.

"Freddie?" the man tilted his head, was that human body language for a smile or confusion? "You know I have to go back to the fleet." the man nodded morosely.

"But I never said when..." she teased, trying to lighten the mood, again.

Fredrick lit up, looking attentively at her.

"Do you know who Kann'helz is?" he shook his head slowly. "no? Who's he?"

"_She, _and she holds a record.."

"Oh."

"Yep, she holds the record for the longest pilgrimage on the fleet. She's lived on your Eden prime for 20 years and only recently returned, rumour is she's even going back."

Her pink ape nodded, apparently waiting to hear the relevance of her story.

"If you treat me well..." she closed the distance between them and in a moment of brashness Ril didn't know she was capable of, pushed his chest down into his seat and pressed her upper body against his. "I just might break that record." she whispered sultrily in his ear.

The young quarian didn't know she had _That_ in her and felt very pleased with herself when Fredrick realized what that would entail.

Snickering she pulled herself up into her own seat with grace unmatched.

His brilliant smile told the quarian exactly what he thought of her proposal.

"I think that can be arranged." he said with a smirk.

Ril, ever the awkward, remained silent, stifling a long winded explanation that he was already treating her well.

It was for the best she decided. Maybe he'd feel inadequate and start doting on her? The thought made Ril feel incredibly guilty.

"Not that your treatment isn't good already." she added, fearful of being labeled a 'Gold digger'. that title was reserved for the children of admirals, members of the conclave, and exiles.

The quarian watched a small shy smile grow on his face. "Thanks, I was a little afraid you'd think I was a bit constricting." the man chuckled in his seat. "I'm glad you don't seem to mind." Fredrick said with his usual friendly grin.

"What? Constricting!" she had to do a double take. "What? Why?"

"You know... sometimes you want space, and well..." Ril made no sign she knew what he was talking about, merely tilting her head in confusion.

"Since we're always around each other, not that I mind, I just..." she watched the pink primate sigh. "Never mind." he finished.

But Ril was curious. She wanted to know what he meant, constricting? Was this his way of telling her she was suffocating him?

But he said he didn't mind, Ril was confused, didn't humans like physical contact with their mates?

She looked at the awkward human. "No, go on." she encouraged.

His cheeks flashed red, could humans change colors? "I don't want to mess this up, you know..." like prey afraid of predator, Fredrick hesitated, but when she remained quiet he continued. "With the whole nightmares and whatever happened when I put my suit on, not to mention that, well..." He sighed and visibly deflated in his seat, the flight suit he wore creaked.

"I don't want to make a mistake Ril. I guess I'm worried, I'll scare you away or something..."

"Why?" she asked, her voice tender, a tightness in her throat, her hands were wrestling with each other on her lap.

He was worried, he didn't want to lose her. Ril felt that warm sensation again, infinitely stronger this time.

"Well, I don't know... We've only been together a few months." the man looked into her eyes for a fleeting moment before they returned to his lap.

But it didn't take long before they met hers again, brilliant luminous white on dull blue.

"I _like _you Ril, I really do, I just don't want to fuck this up just because of, well you know."

Ril did not in fact Know. But, she had a vague idea of What he meant.

He was afraid, afraid of somehow scaring her off. Just because of his nightmares?

She would happily care for him and just as she had her own flaws, he had his.

And she would accept them, embrace them as they were a part of him, to think he thought they would somehow scare her away.

It was almost insulting.

"And I like you Fredrick." she managed, thinking of a way to properly thank him for the touching little speech he so awkwardly composed, at the spot. "I'm not scared of whatever going on in that _big _head of yours.."

His soft smile sent her mind over the edge and Ril rose from her seat and enveloped him in a tight hug, cooing happily in his ear.

He tightened his big warm arms around her, she smiled and bumped her visor with his forehead.

The gesture was lost to him but he looked happy nonetheless.

She pushed her body closer, once again cursing her bust for denying her the closeness she so desperately desired, _needed_.

Ril ran her hand through his hair, like she had done many times before. This time she was dismayed to find her glove, oily? Greasy?

The human had apparently noticed too. "Must've forgot..." he said awkwardly. "Still time for a shower though." he said and hesitantly disentangled himself from her embrace, lingering in her arms for a moment.

Ril felt the hints of warmth from his body fade as he rose up.

There were small grey stains on his clothes, mud? More than mud. Excess lubricant from all the way back on Tirala. And dirt.

She had forgotten her own suit's hygiene too it seemed, a common occurrence since there wasn't much point in it, until now.

"There's room for two, you know..." Fredrick said with a grin and offered his hand, she doubted he had noticed the state of her suit, the thought made her body tingle, her cheeks, and other parts, flashed dark purple.

"Indeed there is." Ril responded with a sultry smirk, she took his hand and allowed the pink alien to lead her, both sporting wide grins.

**Finally done! Sorry for the wait!**

**Writers block had me down in the blues, but my guardian angel must have stabbed the big block to death recently, or shot him.**

**Probably both.**

**In **_**Slow-motion **_

**Because this chapter was pumped out in two days.**

**The block is bleeding out on the ground at the moment, the carpet is kinda mushy and smells like the sickly sweet scent of blood, occasionally he tries to get up, but the pain is too much.**

**Don't pity the block though.**

**He's an asshole.**

**Anyhow, adult content next chapter, probably, maybe, in a month, at this rate.**

**I've got a new job so I don't have much time to actually Write, it's fun though! Very fun!**

**Oh, there was a cut part too! The gist of it was:**

**Ril takes her boots off.**

**Fred asks why she has them on so often, they look heavy.**

**They're okay, but people steal them, like a cruel joke.**

**Fred responds. That sucks and turns away.**

**She's confused, Ril hasn't heard that expression before.**

**She searches for Suck on the extranet, then adds Human to get the appropriate explanation (there's gotta be a database for languages on the extranet I think.) **

**But she instead finds a human/human blow-job movie, on some porn site.**

**She hasn't seen human dicks before, she's amazed how much bigger they are, but softer and pliable, not like the 'quarian thumb' as its come to be known.**

**Then there was a bit about Ril being all hot and bothered, how her suit activated the de-moisturizers** **and began lapping the slick away from the juncture between her legs.**

**All the while Fredrick just flies his ship, while Ril stares holes into his crotch, while stifling groans and moans, imagining his aching member filling her like only a human can.**

**You know what they say "Once you go pink, all else will stink." heh.**

**I removed it because it was simply out of place, didn't fit the mood, a little unrealistic. And because there'll be sex later. (I still have the intercrural in a storage closet planned so don't sweat it.**)

**I hope you enjoyed in any case, review and comment, share favorite and subscribe!**

**FF has only two of those functions though.**

**(Seriously, do review, I really need those, it's like blood to a vampire, souls for a lich, Female quarians for any human main character I'll write about.)**

EDIT: I managed to fix the layout, seriously always makes

herp  
derp  
merp

into

herp

derp

merp

It really messes the layout up. I've salvaged it, but there's still way too many spaces. Why can't it just keep the original formatting? it's really annoying.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

**Warning, There's smut farther down in the story. Hide the children. Or hide from them. Or hide the story from both yourself, and the children.**

Unaware of the pursuers coasting on inertia, the man shifted in his seat.

The command bridge of his rented freighter was a mess, dark and gloomy. He didn't feel like cleaning up or even fixing the lights broken as he had raged in grief of his loss.

The man was breathing calmly now. Deep breaths that filled his lungs.

It was almost peaceful. The way his eyes were closed, his arms crossed, feet on the dashboard. All lit up by the approaching red light that was Omega.

It had to be Omega. Always the same bloody station.

The downside of centralized criminality the man mused in his seat. How foolish he was for thinking he had left it all behind.

"FREIGHTER 2597. State your intentions." the curt voice crackling on the radio woke the man from his near meditave state.

He was coiled like a spring. That voice brought forth memories, it all came back.

"I'd like to Dock. Private business." he murmured.

The voice replied after a short pause. "Affirmative, proceed to cradle 5." the HUD in his ship lit up. Forming way points and beacons that would guide him to the berth.

"Tell me. Is ilitherax still on the guard?" the man added. A hopeful tone in his voice, a familiar face would go a long way to dealing with this mess.

Maybe inhibit more of the long forgotten habits rising up again.

"He is."

"That's all I need to know.." he responded, sighing. "Proceeding to cradle 5." and closed the channel.

At least he wouldn't run short on money. Playing dirty had its benefits...

Inside the drifting shuttle, all was silent except for the steady stream of water coming from the bathroom.

The warm water cascaded down upon the two lone occupants. Ril and Fredrick. human and quarian.

As soon as they had entered the shower, undressed, clothes and realk discarded outside, all pretense of civilized behavior had ceased. The ape from Sol 3 had taken the initiative, pent up frustration lighting a path that he followed.

It began as light scrubbing of her back, Her suit needed a good cleaning. but the soap was dropped and utterly forgotten as his purpose changed, gradually at first. A ghost of a touch, a brush there, a 'misplaced' hand here.

Ril didn't resist, the opposite. She leaned into his touch and the small bathroom got warmer.

She was no less eager, cooing and making warbling noises few could describe as he began to nibble on her armoured neck. She couldn't fel it, but knowing he was doing it made her insides quiver.

He groped her, Touched her. Gently at first, then he tossed aside the sweet gentleness she had shared with him and kneaded, cupping her bust.

She had moaned, loud and clear as he touched her. Really touched her.

Not the glancing caresses or nervous touches she was used to, 'accidental'. But hard and firm, she loved it.

Deep inside she was nervous. To lose control like she was, it wasn't how quarians did it. But she had never been big on tradition. And Ril couldn't think of doing it with another man. Still, the urge to jump him was hard to resist...

They had paused, his hands had still covered her breasts, her own gloved hands covering his, keeping them on her body as they both stood still in the rushing water.

It was clear he didn't know whether to proceed or not. She coaxed him on by grinding her hips into his the most subtle gestures, but it got the message across and slowly the hands began to travel downwards.

Past her belly, beyond her navel and finally they hit their mark, a little too high but her hands guided him to her hidden orifice.

But they stayed there. They didn't move, they didn't touch or knead her flesh just the way she craved.

He was _teasing _her. Just as she had him.

Two could play that game and for once she acted on her basest desires. The man gasped as her hands traveled behind her back and met with the object she had only felt poking her ass at night. When he was asleep.

It was warm and squishy? Firm, but not like a quarian male's hard unyielding stick. From what she'd been told. They couldn't move, but his could. It bobbed and adapted, bent to be squished behind her grinding hips, it fitted behind her cheeks as if it was made for it.

She was glad to discover it had a ridge behind the head, feeling the member, exploring it with her hands. That would work wonders on her female anatomy she realized.

But musings about how human males were built ceased as he once more began moving.

Ril's turn to gasp came at that moment, for thin human fingers began working her slit, through the suit. Way better than neural stim, she arched her back.

"Keelah Fredrick.." she murmured, toes curdling. Her human didn't respond, he was painfully throbbing in her hand.

Something about how his hips moved, humping her hand, made the quarian understand he too needed satisfaction.

For a moment she dropped the member, his fingers slowed their dance as she adjusted her grip.

But then she grabbed hold of his length again and once more she was stroked in her most intimate places, fingers thin and numerous spread the lips of her sli,t still inside the suit, she moaned again as he explored the meaty mound hidden within.

The quarian responded by pumping his own part, faster, grinding her hips against the incredibly warm thing.

She loved it. The way he sped up depending on her own pace. She tightened her grip and backed into him, and he responded by becoming more forceful, she slowed her pumping, and his hand did too.

This was a new side of Fredrick, suddenly revealed by the frustration she had unwittingly caused him.

"Ril, ow." her hips rolled, suit was moist and hot on the inside. She didn't notice how hard she was squeezing his delightfully squishy member.

A thought came to mind, one that made the heat of her core intensify, she'd take things further.

Just like the coolant pipe on the Tozzalk, the one she had so eagerly decorated with many scrapes from her suit. She could fit him between her thighs, he could rub against her gap. His girth was right, Ril smiled deviously as she spread her muscular legs. The unseen hole twitched between the pillars of flesh and bone.

He got the message and placed himself between them. Ril eagerly accepted him, pushing her shapely rear right into the man's crotch until his back bumped with the far wall.

Then she shut her loins and began moving, rippling her powerful thigh muscles as she began to hump him, looking down to see is curiously bulbous head poke out from between her loins. She giggled, a giggle that soon turned to a warbled cry of pleasure as he pushed his member against the covered flower between her loins.

The shower was utterly forgotten as the couple released their inhibitions. Loudly.

"Wow.." Fredrick managed, after a long silence.

"Keelah." Ril answered.

He turned to face her, both of them sat on the floor, breathless.

Ril was only wearing her suit. Black and stretchy it hid none of her curves. It also showed off the large white stain he had produced, splattered messily on her crotch. He didn't know why she aimed it right there. But didn't really care.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" he murmured, lazily watching her rising and falling chest. He felt tired, exhausted even. His legs and hands hurt, after her thighs had clenched shut on them. His flaccid member was red and tender.

He was also happier than ever.

"Keelah.." she said again. Legs silently working. He caught a glimpse of the juncture between them. It twitched too.

He didn't know if it was normal. But he was glad to have coaxed such an incredible response from her, his ears still hurt.

"I mean, we had a few weeks back at my place, just spent cuddling..."

"Keelah.."

Again she didn't answer. He was getting curious now. Before, he thought she just teased him, rejected his advances with awkward stuttering.

"Don't get me wrong, I really liked the hugging. But it was kinda hard ignoring your ass, heh.." But now he was wondering. Did she even know? Was she aware of his, at time rather obvious suggestions.

"Sorry... But man, I thought you didn't even want to.." The man chuckled. "And I thought just going for it, would just get real awkward, what with the suit and all." That had been a concern too. As he had found out, her slit was quite capable of feeling what he did, and had at times almost felt like it was trying to drag his fingers inside. But before, before he had no idea if sex with Ril was even possible. If hoses and syringes covered her body that would scrape and slice if she was moved, it was ridiculous in retrospect.

But her suit had to deal with whatever it's inhabitant produced somehow after all, he didn't know why his mind chose the worst possible alternative.

"Keelah." she sighed again, her brilliant white eyes appeared to have troubles staying open behind her visor.

"We're doing this again. Soon for sure. Ril? Are you listening?"

"What?"

"We're doing this again, right?" he repeated. After experiencing how her muscles had undulated and rippled, Fredrick wanted to feel it again and again, but he was curious to see if Ril had enjoyed it too. Of course her screams and moans and rather undignified_ pushing her ass into him _could've told him that...

"Keelah yes..." she drawled in affirmative. Her hands and arms limp at her sides.

"Are you alright?"

"Never better..."

"Are you sure? You sound a little, out of it.."

"My suit is sticky, the insides of my suit is wet and squishy, my muscles ignore me, I never thought I could come until it hurt.. And I'm still dirty." she brushed some of the white sticky filth of her belly. "Dirtier.." The quarian lazily turned to face him, sitting beside each other as it were. " I'm very okay." she managed, Fredrick grinned proudly. Her legs still twitched and her emerald mask concealed a tired smile, as did her tone of voice.

"Well, that makes two of us." he remarked with a smirk.

Ril just leaned her head on his shoulder, remaining silent as she slowly succumbed to sleep, utterly exhausted.

He too was feeling rather exhausted, closing his eyes for a brief moment he leaned against her helmet.

The omnitool chimed, vibrating, it roused the man from his sleep.

He groaned, opening his eyes the man was pleased to find his cabin empty still, his ship still in the hangar. Wouldn't be the first time it moved after he slept. The glowing sleeve flickered orange again, the implant in his wrist that allowed him to operate haptic interfaces vibrated, shaking his bones.

"Who?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"It's me." a familiar turian voice replied. "I heard you were looking for me." A smile grew on his face.

"Yeah. Yeah I was, good to hear you're still kicking!"

The turian chuckled, but remained silent.

"Listen, I need help, I've got tons of..."

"Hold on, hold on.. I'm a guard now. That life is over, I'm not going to smuggle sand with you again."

"It's not sand. It's just random crap I want to sell. I need money, fast." He sighed. "I told you I'd never sell more after that poor chick snorted a bad batch."

"You also said you'd never come back here."

"Yeah."

"Alright, I'll help ya." the plated alien on the line laughed again. "This is Omega after all. It's suspicious if you _don't _deal in contraband!"

"Thanks man! I don't know what I'd do without you." finally a smile bent the man's lips. It was good to be back, and the Turian's cheerful voice always managed to lift his mood, even after so long.

"Hey, no problem. Just buy me a bear later, been awfully boring the last few weeks, apart from some idiot vigilante shooting the place up."

"A beer." he corrected.

"Yeah. One of those, the dextro variant you showed me last time we met, We've got lot's to talk about."

"Sure thing." His seat creaked as the man shifted, rising up. "Listen, I'm in cradle 5, Hangar 12. can you come meet me? I've got quite a bit of cargo to carry."

The turian just sighed. "Yeah.. my shift is over, I'll help." He drawled. "Just like the old days..."

"Yeah, the old days."

**So, Sex. Fun to write actually. Even though I don't have that much experience with it.**

**Plus, we got a view of our mystery thief, ooohh spooky, I have a twist all planned out and all, I like this little arc.**

**For a clarification. Originally, sex was supposed to come (heh) earlier in the story. But I just never wanted to write it, I lacked motivation. But the reason they haven't, story wise would be Culture shock. Quarians are very ritualized, and Ril has never been hit on before, at most groped in the subway analogue at night. (though that would probably lead to a thigh kick to the stomach.)when she still had her little store on the citadel. (More on that later in the story.) So she has no idea how to react to advances, plus Fredrick didn't even know if it was even possible.**

**Plus, I, I didn't actually plan that much. I have a faint outline "and then they go there, do task A, romantic scene, do task B, bad guy being evil." And so on.**

**Anyhow.**

**I hope my dear readers (That's you, you wonderful people.) enjoyed this chapter, Favorite and Review please!**


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